The Handcuff Chronicles
by Karina Kineshi
Summary: The one and only fox doctor is to be HANDCUFFED to our resident ganster for two whole weeks.  Who knows what mayhem will ensue?  CHAPTER SEVEN UPLOADED Saitoh and Katsu are called to find the missing Megumi while she battles inner demons... and outer.
1. Chapter One

*laughs maniacally* This idea came to me after that one reality show that has three people being handcuffed together (two guys, one girl) for a fixed amount of time and... well... This may turn hentai in subsequent chapters, but for now... it's clean!

Disclaimers: Rurouni Kenshin belongs to Watsuki-sama and Shounen Jump. It certainly doesn't and will never belong to me. So there.

*********

**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapter One**_  
_By: Karina Kineshi

Megumi's face went through the color spectrum so quickly Kaoru was afraid that she might pass out from shock. First white, then greenish, and finally it was bathed in crimson. "What... what..." Sanosuke was faring no better either; his mouth was opening and shutting like a halibut out of water.

Saitoh coolly puffed on his cigarette. "Talk often?"

It was the gangster's turn to go all red. "Is this some kind of joke you policemen do to pass the time?!?" He was babbling, but no one could miss the bright flush that lingered on his cheeks. Sanosuke took a step closer and reached out for Saitoh's collar, but the ex-Shinsengumi was too quick for him. He grabbed Sanosuke wrist in a death grip, bending it backwards almost to the point of fracture.

"As I was saying..." He took a long drag while efficiently making Sanosuke wince in pain, "This is one of the only ways that we can control citizens that are less than... model." Saitoh glared at Sanosuke on the last word, which evoked a scowl from the gangster.

"So..." Kenshin tried to hide a grin with the back of his hand. "And that's the best excuse you can come up with?"

Megumi had finally composed herself and smoothed down the folds of her smock. Thank God she was sitting down. "That will be enough Hajime...san." She frowned at how proper she sounded, after all, the name felt foreign to her lips. It was certainly a change from "you dumb cop!"... She just couldn't get used to the fact that Saitoh Hajime was now the police chief and would be answering all the calls for trouble in Tokyo.

_For better and for worse._

Saitoh released his hold on Sanosuke's arm, and for that Sano hissed. "You bastard..."

Megumi closed her eyes and tried to make sense of the situation. "Now start again. No, wait. What is the real reason?" She was staying surprising calm under the circumstances, and she didn't know how it was possible.

A smile (or as close to a smile as possible) slinked over Saitoh's face. "Because it would be amusing."

That's it. "This is ridiculous!! What makes you think you can—" Sanosuke and Kenshin pulled back at the suddenness of her outburst, Kaoru was obviously startled, but Saitoh held his usual calm. Megumi settled on a weak finish, "—ruin people's lives like this?" Megumi became aware of the unwanted redness pervading her face, and the look on Sanosuke's face was making her lose all track of what she wanted to say next. Saitoh's smirk just grew bigger.

Sanosuke stepped in. "I'm not going to agree to this because..." His eyes darted to where the doctor was breathing heavily from shouting. His eyes grew distant for a moment, then they gleamed with a different light. "I don't want to... see her face first thing in the morning."

"Likewise, you idiot."

Kaoru and Kenshin both exchanged knowing glances, grinning happily. It was painfully apparent, the two harbored _something_ for each other, maybe love, maybe not. Whatever they thought they had, they would deny it with their dying breaths. This came to mind the legend of the husband and wife in Kyoto, the man came home from the barber shop and said that his beard was trimmed. The wife argued that it was merely clipped. The husband got mad and dragged his wife to the river, arguing back and forth the whole time that it was trimmed and not clipped. He shoved his wife's head under the water and demanded that his wife say it is trimmed. Her last dying movement was to raise her hand above the water and move her forefinger and middle finger in a scissor-like motion, indicating that it had been clipped. 

Megumi laughed at the story, but Sanosuke confidently said that the fox would be the type to do that. She retaliated by saying that a husband like Sano would force her to jump in the river of her own choosing. Thus began another of their verbal combats, adding another piece of the puzzle. If this scheme was pulled off, who knows what it would do for their "relationship with benefits".

Saitoh shook his head mockingly, eyes narrowing and his lips pulled taunt. "Of course you wouldn't want to see your lady's face, right Zanza?"

Sanosuke glared at him. "And what the _hell_ is that supposed to mean?" His voice had gone deadly soft. Sanosuke no longer cared about that backhanded "lady" comment, the focus of his anger was on the use of his alias. Zanza. Saitoh Hajime was venturing into dangerous territory, but kept plodding right along. Nearly everyone in the room all fervently hoped that the "chief" knew what he was doing.

"Counting all the misdemeanors committed while you were operating under the assumed name of 'Zanza', there was disturbing the peace..."

"Hey now..."

"...property damage..."

"...I can explain that..."

"Trying to overthrow the Meiji government..."

"Who wouldn't?"

Saitoh stopped counting the crimes off on his fingers and sneered at Sanosuke. "And basic public mayhem." Saitoh really had unorthodox ways of containing so called menaces to society.

Megumi didn't understand what the two were discussing, it seemed like everyone in the room knew what was going on except her. She knew that Zanza was a feared gangster... The similarities were so obvious, but she had never sat down and thought about it until Kenshin had told her one day. Sanosuke is Zanza? Of course! The jacket with evil... the red bandanna... how could I have missed that?

She realized at that point that he had a past just like her, and for that she felt it in her honor to defend Sanosuke. After all, he would do the same for her... right? "If I recall correctly Hajime-san, you have some skeletons in your closet as well, so I don't see where—"

"Takani Megumi, daughter of Takani Ryuusei, a prominent doctor in Aizu... opium trafficking and production."

"..."

"Involvement with a crime lord..."

"..."

"Endangerment of public safety..."

"I..."

Sanosuke must have seen the clenched knuckles that Megumi tried to hide. The fact that Saitoh used unwanted memories from her past to achieve his purposes made her angry. Why not let sleeping demons lie? The gangster went for a second shot at Saitoh, eyes gleaming. No one tried to stop him.

"What do I have to do?" Megumi's voice was barely above a whisper.

Saitoh rubbed his face from where Sanosuke punched him, more annoyed than hurt by it. "What we discussed earlier. That's all."

"And it's for how long?"

"Only two weeks."

"What about my patients?"

"Dr. Genzai can take care of them."

"You're... serious!" Kenshin goggled wide-eyed and couldn't help but note that he had never seen Sanosuke this uncomfortable in his life. By the way Sanosuke always acts so cool all the time, it was hard to believe that he was only 19. The situation had him so out of character he almost laughed. No matter the mortification now, this would do them good in the long run.

_In more ways than one too..._

The room had one of those silences again. Since her declaration, Megumi couldn't help but wonder at certain things that Sanosuke should be doing by now. Where were the grins? The smirks and jokes? This was a different Sanosuke, an embarrassed Sanosuke. She didn't dare say it, and felt odd just thinking it, but this might actually be fun...

"Fox... what's the deal with... those?!?" Megumi didn't realize why Sanosuke looked ready to faint until she felt her face and head. Kaoru and Kenshin looked utterly scandalized.

_My God. I'm smiling! And I've got... fox ears!!!_

Saitoh turned towards the door. "I'll come back in a day. I suggest that you two enjoy your last few moments of... freedom."

_Freedom?_

After he had left, no one spoke for a few seconds until Kaoru broke the silence with her shrill whine. "F-F-F-Freedom?!? Does he think that being with a woman is... like being a slave?" Kenshin braced himself for the hit that was certain to come soon, even if he was undeserving of it.

Sanosuke snorted. "Damn straight..." Megumi and Kaoru both promptly thumped him on the head.

When the imminent hit from Kaoru didn't come, Kenshin resumed sloshing the tea around in its pot and poured himself a small cup. "It's hard to believe that he's married..." The other three occupants of the room went whiter than the sheets that he washed twice a week.

Megumi spoke first. "I'd rather be married to this idiot than that... that... beast."

"Careful doc, you might make me think you like me."

"You've got a face only a mother would love!"

"The same can't be said for you, fox!"

Kaoru smiled. "Calm down you two, you'll have enough time for that when you're... you know..." The fighting duo stopped long enough to look at the floor, the blood collecting in their faces. Kaoru grinned, then grabbed Kenshin's arm. "Well, we'll be going now, Kenshin..."

After Kaoru and Kenshin had gone, another uncomfortable quiet spell fell over the room. Megumi assumed that it was because once they were interrupted in a spat, there wasn't much meaningful conversation that could follow. "Poor guy, he's so henpecked..." Yes, she could try meaningful conversation for once. They could at _least_ try that before tomorrow came.

Sanosuke didn't try to hide his sneer. "I'd rather be henpecked by..." His eyes lost their light and he paused. "... by..."

_By...?_

The devilish light flashed in his eyes again. "... by you, of course!" He made a suggestive move with his hand while Megumi flared. "But then again, I'll have plenty of time to win you over. What was that, two weeks?" He paused to see the effect on the doctor. She was ready to explode. Sanosuke wisely choose the time to start leaving the room before she had the chance to beat him senseless. "You'll be putty in my hands by the time two weeks goes by. Bye... fox." With a cocky, lopsided smile, he exited.

By the time she realized what he was saying , Sanosuke had already left and shut the door. "P-Putty?!? You stupid..." So, the truth comes out: Saitoh did this to make her life miserable. The rest of them thought that their smirks weren't obvious; they were enjoying watching her suffer.

She cringed. Spending two weeks, alone, with Sanosuke would have been enough to make any girl want to...

_Jump in a river._

And what's even worse, the circumstances were... mortifying to say the least.

Megumi sighed. This was going to be a _long_ fortnight...

*******************

"Kaoru-dono, are you sure that it's all right to drop in on them like this? I mean..." Kenshin looked at her from beneath amused eyes.

Kaoru shook her head. "It'll be ok. I don't think they'll mind. Besides, I'm worried about them. Who knows what... will happen..."

"Who? Where are we going?" Yahiko noticed that they had been wandering aimlessly about Tokyo for the three hours now, and then they were finally headed in the direction of Megumi's clinic. He was getting irritated that Kenshin and Kaoru obviously knew something that he didn't. "Hey ugly, where are we going?"

Kaoru seemed to inflate to twice her size until Kenshin stepped in. "We're going to see Sanosuke and Megumi-dono."

"Why, is he sick?" He was oblivious.

Kenshin laughed while Kaoru shook her head with a predatory grin. "You'll see." They were not in the clinic, but most likely in the other room that was sectioned off. Those were Megumi's living quarters. This way, she could be up at a moment's hesitation in case a patient would come calling at any hour of the night. Kaoru held her ear to the screen. Silence. "Megumi-san? Sanosuke?"

Still nothing.

"We're coming in..." Kenshin slid the door about 2 inches before he heard a scream.

"Get off me!!! Off! Now!"

"Aw, c'mon fox..."

The voice, Megumi's voice, rose several octaves. "Certainly not! Ken-san and Kaoru are here..."

"So?"

"... a... a... off!"

"Fine, have it your way..."

Kenshin and Kaoru's eyes widened, and Yahiko was turning a becoming shade of red. Without another second to think, Kenshin ever so slowly slid open the door to reveal...

"Welcome, Kenshin..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's notes: Yes, I know. I love cliffhangers ^_^ And I know that everyone acts a little bit OOC in this, but c'mon people, it's boring if they didn't. Everyone changes, even characters in anime. There's a pervert in _everyone_, even our beloved Rurouni. ^_^ Comment if you like, I like motivation to start writing the next chapter... =) 


	2. Chapter Two

Some people have been emailing me asking just why they are handcuffed together. *puffs on a pipe* All shall be answered, my children, all shall be answered... you couldn't have honestly bought that "because it would be funny" gag? *laughs* Regardless, here's installment 2! ^_^ 

********* 

**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapter Two**_   
_By: Karina Kineshi 

"So, you mean to tell us that..." Kenshin wasn't even trying to hide his amusement anymore; he was openly flaunting his glee. Sanosuke and Megumi were sitting side-by-side, looking everywhere around the room except at each other. Kaoru was beside Yahiko, whose eyebrows almost reached to the top of his hairline when he saw, well... the scene...

"She fell. That's all." Sanosuke rolled his eyes to where Megumi was pointing at, the cupboard. "She said she didn't need my help."

"I _didn't_ need your help, you were the one who lost your balance!"

"Could have fooled me..." Kaoru whispered under her breath, but it was still loud enough to be heard. Megumi glared at her, but it seemed that she was right. White rolls of bandages were strewn all over the floor, some rolled up, most of them unraveled. The shelf that held them hung rakishly by one nail, ready to teeter off. 

According to Sanosuke's version of the story, Megumi had wanted to grab a roll from the very top so she could taunt Sanosuke with it. He neglected to mention how she would taunt him with it, making the story that much less believable. "I lovingly offered to reach it for her when she slapped me across the face! Can ya' believe it?"

Megumi snorted. "Lovingly? That's ridiculous! I did not slap you, you're the one who insisted I get it myself..."

Then, when Megumi adamantly denied his pleas to help her, she got up onto the tall table just under the shelf, giving her a few more feet to reach for it. She snarled at him to move in closer, "Your idiotic behavior will make this even more hard..." Without reason, Megumi slipped while reaching for a roll. While she was flailing for a secure foothold, she grabbed the shelf, causing it to break and the bandages to go flying everywhere. Despite Sanosuke "heroic" efforts to catch her, she fell backwards and took a hold of Sanosuke's neck, dragging him down with her. 

"You're full of lies! You... liar!" Megumi gritted her teeth. "This is what really happened..." According to Megumi, she was just innocently reaching for a roll because she needed to fix his hand. "After all, I'm your doctor, and you're my patient, so I have to take care of you..."

"Che..."

Megumi sweetly asked if he could reach one of the bandages up there because it was "too tall for me". He refused and made her do it by herself. She gave him puppy-dog eyes. This was answered by a growl, "Get the damn bandages already, you witch."

"I did NOT say that! And you call _me_ a liar?"

She got on top of the table and tried to stand on it, but it was wobbly. Sanosuke used this to his advantage, because just when Megumi had gotten a roll and cheerily announced it, he kicked the leg of the table and caused her to get knocked off her feet. "He was just looking for an excuse to look up my kimono."

"I was not! Ya'... _are_ a fox!"

Anyways, she fell, and landed on the floor with a thump. It was very painful. Sanosuke, of course, had forgotten about their current predicament and didn't remember that this would be very painful for him too. In his thrashing, one of his arms easily hit the shelf, causing a shower of dressings to fall on Megumi's face. "That was very painful. And you know what the jerk did? He fell right on top of me! Right on top! Can you believe it?"

"Right on top?"

Megumi nodded her head. "Right in my most vital area too!" Yahiko closed his eyes when Megumi pointed at exactly where Sanosuke had hit her. Kenshin tried to conceal his smile, and Sanosuke just tossed his head.

Kaoru put a hand over her breasts protectively, her face a mask of imagined pain. "And... that's where we found you. I... I can't believe it."

"I don't know which one to believe. They both sound pretty..." Kenshin looked at their two faces, eyes begging him to trust their own story. "... ridiculous."

They both narrowed their eyes at Kenshin, looked at each other, and with an "hmph", turned their heads away from each other. 

Yahiko had remained quiet and pointed at Sanosuke and Megumi. "So... what's that?"

"What's it look like, kid?" Sanosuke said with an edge of tiredness in his voice. "It's a handcuff." 

Indeed it was, but it was like no handcuff that Yahiko had ever seen before. It bound Sanosuke and Megumi together, her right hand to his left. "But... why is it shiny like that?" All the handcuffs he had seen were solid blocks of wood with two holes punched in the middle, just enough room for a wrist to fit through. Those two pieces of wood were fastened together by a lock; it looked like a miniature version of the stocks. There was a burnished chain that connected the two rings, and it allowed for a maximum of about five inches between the two chainees. This was one odd handcuff...

"It's a new model. It's made out of metal, so this way, it can't be broken as easily. Plus, it more lightweight, and therefore it... suits the operation rather well." Kenshin explained.

"Yeah, I would have Futae-no-Kiwami'd it by now if it wasn't unbreakable..." Sanosuke growled.

Yahiko still looked puzzled. "But, _what_ operation?" He snickered. "Trying to get two single people together? Operation Cupid's Arrow?" Sanosuke raised his hand to smack the kid into oblivion, forgetting that Megumi's arm was still attached. She scolded him for almost breaking her arm off, and he should have been more careful. Besides... Megumi hit Yahiko upside the head with her free arm, saying that grown men have no right to hit children. Women did.

The hit wasn't enough to deter Yahiko from teasing the two bound persons. Kaoru and Kenshin just watched with interest on their faces, smiling at the two's floundering denials. Yahiko's face suddenly turned serious. "Why could Saitoh just handcuff you to a post or something? Why Megumi?"

Megumi couldn't help but smile. Yahiko had always been protective of her since she had healed him from Beshimi's poison dart, and he didn't want any harm to befall her. It was obvious that Yahiko did like Megumi a lot more than was necessary, but it was only dismissed as a childish crush. A product of teenage hormones. 

_It would be cute if it weren't so disturbing... _

Kaoru absentmindedly flicked a fly off of her kimono. "Because he said it would be funny..." She saw Megumi and Sanosuke's free arms cross their bodies to hit each other on the shoulder, a slight scowl on their faces. "Who knows he could have been so right?" Kaoru felt herself melting from the fiery glare that she received from both chained parties.

"Kaoru-dono, Yahiko, let's go." Kenshin got up without warning, and outstretched a hand for the girl to take. "We have to leave now."

Sanosuke's eyebrows arched. "Leaving so soon?" Kaoru and Yahiko were already out the door, and Kenshin turned around just before sliding it shut. He gave the two a small thumbs up with twinkling eyes, and stepped out, leaving the two's faces a mixture of dread and speechlessness. "Kenshin!"

"Ken-san! Don't leave me here with... with... him!"

Silence.

Sano stretched his arms above his head, taking Megumi with him. The length of his arms almost made her rise from her seat and land in Sanosuke lap, until she punched him in the chest. "Don't even think about it." Megumi sighed. "Two weeks? Whole weeks? With... with you?"

He grinned and winked. "Remember fox, you'll be putty in my hands by the time this is over."

Sanosuke had nowhere to run from Megumi's wrath this time.

***********

"I've been walking around this place all day, just... let me rest for a minute..." It was only 6:00 at night, but Gods, her very bones ached from movement. Whatever he did, she must do as well, or else an embarrassing moment or something painful would happen if she didn't. He was a jittery person and insisted on knowing where every article of clothing was, every trinket, every bottle of medicine. 

The gangster was rather surprised when she showed him her "pet", a frail black cricket kept inside a small bamboo cage. "Ya've got a cricket? Why?"

"He's my watchdog-- watch... cricket. He chirps all night long and whenever someone comes near my clinic, it stops chirping and I wake up."

Sanosuke looked confused. "So you mean it's the _quiet_ that wakes ya? Not the noise?" Megumi nodded. "Ah... I get it... what's his name?"

The doctor appeared lost in her thoughts for a couple moments. Then, with a small voice, "Ryuu-chan. I named him after... my father." Sanosuke could do nothing but feel awkward for a couple moments, then as if she were embarrassed at having reveal such a secret part of herself, she hastily asked if he would like some dinner.

Sanosuke tried to think of a way to relieve the tension, and finally came up with: "So, I guess I can finally have a dinner date with the fox. I must be the luckiest guy in Tokyo." Words never failed to get him out of a jam; she smiled at his comment.

After eating dinner came the tedious process of undressing for bed. Now, Sanosuke and Megumi were both mature people, and surely they could handle something as mundane as undressing for bed.

"I'll _kill_ you if you even make one remark about this..."

Maybe not.

"Well, maybe we can just sleep in our clothes..."

"C'mon! I need to take my jacket off! I'm not wrinkling it!"

"I need to take off my smock too you know... I just don't..."

Sanosuke sighed. "It's not like we're going to go totally down to nothing you know." He stopped, and then a malicious grin crept over his features. "It's not like we're taking a bath or anything..."

The very thought was horrifying. "Fine... fine..." After taking off her smock and leaving the cotton yukata underneath, she tossed her head and began to comb her fingers through her hair. Thank goodness the smock detached in the front...

Sanosuke began to take his jacket off, then stopped. 

"What's wrong?"

"The... the sleeve isn't big enough..."

"Wha... what?" Because of their predicament, Sanosuke was unable to take off his jacket. He could get it all the way off his shoulders, but the jacket itself was left dangling on the handcuffs. Megumi could not possibly fit through the sleeve, so... "Well, we could always—" She stopped short when she saw the look in his eye. He was _not_ cutting it off. Even if he were willing, Megumi would not let him. "Let's just leave it on. You'll just put it back on in the morning anyway..."

Sanosuke seemed relieved. She didn't seem to mind, as absurd as they must have looked, handcuffed together with his jacket draped over the chain. "We look... absurd." She poked him on his now bare chest, "This is all your fault, you know."

He sighed. "Are ya' honestly going to be this difficult for this two weeks? Doesn't that get tiring after a while?"

"Yes, it does. But it's the only way I can maintain my sanity..."

The tiniest traces of a smile appeared on Sanosuke's face. "Do I make ya' insane?"

"I..." Megumi chose not to answer and muttered something under her breath about "cocky roosters". She tugged Sanosuke to the wall and tried to take the futon down from its leaning position on the wall.

_Does he drive you insane? _

"Let me." Seeing the seemingly frail woman buckle underneath the weight of the bedding, he felt it in his duty to help her. Sanosuke effortlessly lifted it off her shoulders, "Where do ya' want it?"

"You."

"What?"

"Never mind."

Sanosuke scanned her face, trying to deduce at what exactly she meant by that. Megumi was looking around the room, preoccupied with something else. He decided to let the comment slide and jiggled his cuffed arm, making her arm move. "Hey, I guess this means we're going to have to sleep together." He smiled and waited for her reaction, most likely a hit or a dislocation. Not even the best fortune-tellers could see this coming.

She was smiling. Broadly. 

A bolt of lightning seemed to hit the gangster from the very top of his head all the way to the bottom; so bizarre was his reaction. "F- Fox... you're not serious..."

It was comical to watch him flounder like that, Megumi noted. He was acting the same way as the day before when Saitoh had dropped the bombshell announcement. "Put the futon over there."

"Ya' mean... in the doorway?"

Megumi nodded and could hardly contain herself when his eyebrows formed one straight line as he pondered the situation. The grin was all it took to make him act like a nervous thirteen year old. How wonderful. She stored that piece of information away in her "men" arsenal. It seemed to be a useful tool in making them do your every will...

Once Sanosuke was done setting the futon, dragging Megumi behind him in the process, he apprehensively waited for further instruction. His eyes were downcast; Sanosuke was flexing his toes inside his bandaged feet. Megumi had offered him slippers, but he insisted on walking around in his bare feet.

How odd.

"There," Megumi nudged the futon a few inches with her toe, "That will do nicely." The futon evenly split the width of the doorway, and there was Sanosuke on the other side, still looking at his feet. "Do you sleep on your back?"

"What?"

"On your back." she repeated. "Do you sleep on your back?" His head moved up and down in a dazed fashion. "That's great..."

She started to sink to the floor, or namely, futon, taking Sanosuke down with her. "Hey fox... what..." This behavior was indeed very peculiar, was this _his_ doctor? Was this what it was really like? He was just joking about that 'putty' comment, could his manly charms be that overwhelming? Sanosuke could only feel blessed. 

Sanosuke smiled when Megumi leaned in closer to his face, apparently to kiss him goodnight. Her lips were free of that red paint she liked to wear now, but she was nonetheless still beautiful. "I just wanted to tell you..." she breathed.

_What? _

"...that... we... need..." She was rapidly closing the distance between their two faces, and Sanosuke was alternating between wishing she would just do it already or get as far away from him as possible. "...we... need..."

_What... _

"Sleep."

_Huh? _

"Megu—"

One second Sanosuke was staring into Megumi's eyes, the next, he found himself looking at a door. 

A thin, paper door. 

"What..." He didn't even need to ask to know exactly what happened. She was a crafty woman, this one... Megumi must have foreseen this predicament happening and prepared for it. About 5 inches was cut off the bottom part of the sliding door; just enough room for the futon to fit underneath. Indeed, the doctor and him were still bound, but on two different sides of the partition.

Sneaky.

He could hear Megumi sigh from the other side of door. "It's not like anyone comes to this area of my house anyways... so I just thought I could take some... precautionary measures." The faint light from the other side of the door disappeared, meaning that she had blown her tallow candle out. 

"Precautionary... measures?" Sanosuke shook his head in disbelief; smiling all the while he was reaching for his blanket. One thought kept nagging at his mind though, that she could have kept the futon all to herself. She did not have to share with him, and she certainly didn't have to cut a hole in the door. For his comfort? Or maybe, not to 'see his face first thing in the morning'. "I guess ya' really are a fox..."

"You, Sanosuke. You..." Sanosuke could feel a slight tug on his arm; the handcuff was pulling it towards the door. "Good night, you rooster."

He finally understood. "Good night, _you_ fox..." Megumi smiled. She figured that if she was spend two weeks with this buffoon, she may as well try to make the best of it by attempting to reform his speech patterns. After all, "ya'" grates on the nerves...

One day down. Thirteen to go.

************

"Fujita-san! Fujita-san..."

The slightly frazzled police chief looked up from his dinner of kake-soba, these days he stayed at the station almost every night. Can't he at _least_ have a _dinner_ to himself? "What is it?" 

The young officer who just rushed in was hired but two weeks ago, he had short-cropped black hair and mole beside his nose. The man was, or rather, boy was flushed from running down the corridor to Saitoh's office. "I've had a report come in from the west side, near the restaurant called the Akabeko-ya, that the targets in question have mobilized..." 

Saitoh set his chopsticks down neatly on top of the noodle bowl. "So... they've come already..." He ordered the young man to exit and let him finish eating, despite his protests. They will decide on the best course of action in the morning.

_Takani Megumi... what is the connection? _

************

"Megumi..."

"Hn?"

"Can you sleep yet?"

"No..."

"Well..." The screen door slowly, tantalizingly, slid open. "…Megumi..."

_Sanosuke? _

Megumi's eyes snapped open. She'd had that dream for the past three days now, it started ever since her and Sanosuke had been cuffed together. It always involved her lying awake on the other side of the door, then Sanosuke asking if she was asleep yet. Every time the door slid open... she woke up. Megumi made a quick mental check of her surroundings.

In bedroom.

Still handcuffed.

Screen door... closed.

"Fox, you okay over there?"

Megumi felt an unusual pain in her lower back. "Yeah, I'm fine... how long have you been awake?" She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the screen door glide open and Sanosuke was staring straight at her.

"Not long... I just..." Why did she say his name? It was odd when she just said his name like that without saying anything afterward, until Sanosuke realized that she said it in her sleep.

_She was dreaming. _

"I have to go to the bathroom." Sanosuke's eyes were twinkling. "It's about time you got up."

Megumi sighed, "We've already been handcuffed for three days, yet you still can't let go of your immaturity for just two seconds..." She got up and dragged Sanosuke to his feet. "Let's go."

"Hey, isn't it enough that I use 'you'?"

"No."

"Fine..." He grinned. "Sooner or later, we're going to have to take a bath. Ya' can't escape from it..." He never saw her hand coming, and then he found himself eating a mouthful of tatami mat. 

_She sure knows how to move fast... _

After they went to relieve themselves (with some "comments" exchanged as well), the two went over to the kitchen to prepare for breakfast. Megumi had been teaching him how to make those ohagi that he loved so much, and she must say that his cooking skills were improving by the day. "I hope you're learning from this rooster, I'd like to go to sleep at night knowing that you can feed yourself." Then with added sarcasm, "Maybe this way, you can stop mooching off hardworking people like me."

He was washing the rice in a giant clay pot, swishing the water around like a miniature whirlpool. When the water got cloudy, he dumped the water out and put clean water in. "That was underhanded fox..." Sanosuke sifted his hands through the rice, the grains felt good in between his fingers. Nothing was said for the next couple of seconds, and the only sounds in the room was the scraping of the rice against the bottom of the pot and Megumi dicing some greens with her left hand. The two were close.

_Too close_, Sanosuke thought.

Close enough to smell her scent.

Close enough to see each crease in her forehead as she concentrated on chopping the vegetables.

Close enough to see the red ring on Megumi's skin that the handcuff had caused.

_Red ring? _

"Hey fox, what's that?"

"What's what?"

His hands were preoccupied, so he puckered his lips and pouted them at her right hand. "That."

Megumi's eyes followed his lips to where they were pointing. She set the knife down and rearranged the cut greens on the shelf. "Oh, it's just the handcuff." Her skin wasn't tough enough to handle the constant metal abrasion, and the skin had been scraped raw. Sanosuke had no problem with it; his skin was considerably harder than hers...

"How are ya' going to last two weeks with that?"

Her head went up. How dare he ask a dumb question like that? After all, it was his fault that she was in this situation...

_But... exactly how? _

Her thought process had been halted. Just exactly how did they get into this mess? Saitoh Hajime was definitely not the type to do something out of "fun". And of all people, why to him? Why? There had to be another reason. 

Sanosuke must have noticed her silence, and started shifting from foot to foot. "Why do you think we're doing this?"

"You asked the same question I was thinking." Megumi resumed chopping, but her mind was elsewhere. "You asked the same question..."

_Why? _

************

"And that's why..." Saitoh pinched the end of his lit cigarette so the flame was extinguished. Kaoru wondered how he could do that with such coolness and without any visible trace of pain. "... we're going to such extreme measures."

"You didn't tell me about this part Saitoh..." Kenshin's eyes narrowed. "So why did you bother to explain the situation now?"

Saitoh smiled. "Reinforcements."

"So... what's going on?" No matter how many times Saitoh told of the predicament, she was still left in the dark. She was starting to get angry that Kenshin had knowingly kept something of this magnitude from her, and she was paying the consequences for it by looking like a fool. Kaoru slammed her fist on the table. "What's going on?"

Saitoh pulled another cigarette out of his pocket while Kenshin tried to explain. "Megumi-dono is being... targeted."

Kaoru's eyes widened. "By who? For what?"

"Idiot. If we knew who, we would have done something by now." Saitoh struck a match on the inside of his jacket sleeve, much to Kenshin's amazement. "We have reason to believe that Takani Megumi's life is in danger."

"What's your evidence?"

Saitoh flung a piece of paper at Kenshin. "As you can see, it's very explicit. We found it near our headquarters around five nights ago."

"_Pro-tect doc-tor wo-man..._", Kaoru read. She squinted to get a closer look at the characters. "What? I can't read the rest..."

"It uses the Western alphabet for the last sentence. It says, _'Do all in your power to save her from her fate. They will attack within a fortnight.'_" Saitoh thoughtfully sipped the tea that Kaoru had offered him. "We are very lucky to have a language translator on the force."

Kenshin grew suspicious. "You're basing all this on a note? What if it's a diversion?"

"I don't think so. Not many people are versed in the Western alphabet that live in Tokyo, let alone Japan. The Japanese is also broken, meaning that it is not the author's native language." Saitoh snatched the note out of Kaoru's hand and pointed at it. "See this watermark here? This is paper used by only high ranking officials—"

Kaoru interrupted. "That still doesn't prove the authenticity of the note. Anyone could sneak into an office and steal paper, a maid, a burglar, a prostitute..."

Saitoh snorted. "Don't you know anything? Look closely at the watermark..."

Kenshin jumped in again to explain things to his clueless companion. "It's an eagle."

"So?"

"Geez battousai, your woman knows nothing..." Kenshin used up nearly all his power to hold Kaoru back from kicking Saitoh into orbit. "It's an eagle, a _washi_. Have you ever heard of Washimoto Hoshino?" The blank look on Kaoru's face was his answer. "His father was one of the lesser known advocates of the Tokugawa era, and he was killed in the war. The son, Hoshino, went on to become one of the top ranking officials of the Meiji era."

Kaoru put on a face that showed she understood parts of it. "So, what does this Hoshino want with Megumi-dono?" Kenshin asked.

Saitoh scratched his knee. "We've got the entire force trying to figure that out as we speak. There's just no obvious connection. Even I don't know much about the man, except that this eagle is his trademark symbol. We can be sure that he is involved in this, somehow."

"Can he use the Western alphabet?"

"We don't know for sure yet, Miss Kamiya."

Kenshin was lost in thought. "Supporter of Tokugawa right... I didn't think that Washimoto had a son... maybe it's an..."

"... an alias?" Kaoru finished the sentence.

"Perhaps", was Saitoh's only answer.

"But, even if you have a lead, what does chaining Megumi to Sanosuke have to do with anything?"

"Well, I figured that if this man Hoshino was going to attack Takani Megumi, the first place he would look is her clinic. After all, she _is _a doctor... and Sanosuke is just there to defend her if a sneak attack occurs. I can't defend her every minute of every day."

Kaoru smiled. "I don't think the chaining was really necessary, Saitoh-san. I think he would have done it willingly if you'd told him the circumstances..."

"No. That would have been disastrous." Kenshin gazed at Kaoru; sometimes she could be so naïve. "Considering Sano's current... fondness for Megumi-dono, he would have probably went off and tried to hunt down whoever was stalking her like this. She would be unprotected and scared, and it would cause a lot of general havoc. And in the chaos, the attacker would easily find a way to—"

"—which is why you must tell no one else." Saitoh scanned the two faces, Kaoru's scared one and Kenshin's serious one. "Be careful."

Kenshin's face registered a mixture of shock and amusement. "Mibu's Wolf is telling us to be careful... Saitoh, you're making me start to think you're concerned about us."

"Of course not," Saitoh replied. "I'm only ensuring my future battle with you will remain uncancelled, battousai."

"Just doing your job, right Saitoh?" Kenshin smiled.

"Whatever."

************

Four more days passed without much occurrence. One week is over; they were halfway there. It was a mundane life, getting up each morning, making breakfast, making lunch, making dinner... in between food; they would either clean the spotless house or find something to pass the time. Megumi would always find something for Sanosuke to do, like chop firewood with his right hand while she picked medicinal herbs in the nearby garden with her left. She slowly noticed a change in him, he was more... softspoken. The first few days were absolute torture for her, what on earth could she talk about with Sanosuke? After all, the two had nothing in common. But now...

"So... if you could be any type of fruit, what would you be?"

"Sanosuke!"

"What? Just answer the question..."

Megumi looked up from picking the aloe. "Well, I'd be... a mango."

"What's a mango?"

"It's a tropical fruit, really sweet, juicy, and hard to find here..."

Sanosuke stopped chopping and nudged her with the wooden end of the ax. "Just like ya', huh fox?"

She laughed halfheartedly. "Thanks for the flattery Sano..."

"_You_ are very welcome."

Megumi pulled the front of her smock to air out her kimono. Gods, it was getting hot. She could feel her hair plastered to the back of her neck, and if there was _one_ thing she hated, she _abhorred_ sweaty hair. "What about you?"

"I'd be a banana..." Sanosuke resumed chopping.

"Why?"

He didn't even have to answer, she could see that mischievous light shining in his eyes. "Sagara Sanosuke, you are one of the biggest perverts I have _ever_ met."

Sano wiped the sweat beading on his forehead with the back of his hand. "I didn't even answer yet fox."

"Yet, I know what you were going to say."

"I need a bath."

Megumi's eyes widened, "W-What?" Did she just hear correctly?

"I... need a bath..." Sanosuke repeated.

Yes, she did hear correctly. "Certainly not." Megumi mumbled under her breath. "How come I didn't see this one coming..."

_Yes, you did. You wished for it. _

Sanosuke lazily drew a picture in the sky with his finger. "Got any ideas? We were going to have to do this eventually, two weeks without a bath is just... disturbing."

Megumi cut in. "Just three _days_ without a bath is disturbing..."

"Any ideas?"

"A... A... I don't... we can get in there with our clothes on..."

Sanosuke snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Well... then you think of something!" she scowled.

He set down the handle of the ax and started leaning on the head. "Why don't we just go in there together?" Sanosuke noticed a pale pink flush wash over her cheeks, but it was dismissed just as quickly as it had come. She had waited for just a second too long. "Done."

She sighed. "Fine. Let's just get this over with." By God, if it had been up to her to decide, they probably would have been standing there all night. She didn't think that this whole handcuff ordeal could speed things up like this so quickly. Against her waking mind, she was forced to live, breathe, eat, and even bathe with a buffoon. But her sleeping mind... "Do you want me to show you to the bathhouse?" she asked, even though he knew very well where it was.

He grinned. "That's my girl..."

"Y-Your girl?!?" Megumi suddenly seemed to grow a lot taller than Sanosuke, so menacing was her aura. "Your girl!" she spat out. She could only wish...

Sanosuke was smiling on the outside, but on the inside, it had really hurt.

_If you were my girl... if... I could call you my girl without fear of rejection... _

"So... let's go."

"After you, my girl..."

Instead of receiving a slap as he'd expected, Megumi put her uncuffed hand on his cuffed forearm. "No, we'll go together. Right?" She smiled at him, and he nodded back, a new feeling surging through his body. God, she was so beautiful when she smiled, and even better when the smile was for him.

_Full of surprises... __and we're only halfway there... my girl._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's notes: Yep, one more chapter to go, includes more WAFFiness and a fight scene ^_^ The final chapter will answer questions like: Who is Washimoto Hoshino? What will happen to our bonded couple in the bathtub? Will the next chapter be... hentai? All this and more, on the final installment of... "The Handcuff Chronicles!" Comment! 


	3. Chapter Three

I lied. This is the third to last chapter of "The Handcuff Chronicles", I didn't want it to sound rushed, so I will do two other chapters. I hope you brought pancakes; because I'll be stuffing you so full of sap you'll be blowing your noses with them. ^_^ Enjoy!

****************

**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapte****r Three**_  
_By: Karina Kineshi

_My God. I think I'm going to die of suspense... _

Megumi had been trying to delay the inevitable for long enough; Sanosuke was already down to his pants and was cautiously unwrapping the bandages around his waist. She had not even taken off her smock yet, but this would have to qualify as one of the most awkward moments of her life.

No, this one was _the_ most awkward moment of her life.

Just watching him unroll the bandages had wrecked havoc on her senses; she felt that undeniable "female attraction" course through her veins. Who says that only men had that sense of desire? Women had it just as bad, but it wasn't as often.

_He would be so good in bed... _

Ack! All the blood in her body surged up to her face. She was appalled at herself, where exactly did that thought come out of? Megumi covered his face with her free hand; thinking like a sex-crazed maniac would _not_ help the situation. This was also one of the worst bouts of longing that she'd experienced by far. So close, yet so... distant.

Sanosuke cleared his throat. "Hey fox, ya' ok?" Megumi felt like crawling into a hole and dying, he'd noticed her obvious discomfort. Was it that apparent?

She shook her head as if to get her thoughts straight. "Yeah, I'm fine..." She was aware that she wouldn't look at him anymore, and that her eyes were directed straight at the floor. She also noticed that he had not yet removed his pants. This gave her a newfound sense of determination to get through this with at least a portion of her sanity. Megumi started to remove her smock, "Yeah, I'm fine."

More silence.

Sanosuke knew when to keep his mouth shut, and the time was _now_. He had sensed the tense atmosphere in the room, and even if he wanted to speak, he knew he couldn't. Megumi was more subdued, quiet, and dare say, mortified. He knows that as her work as a doctor, she had gone through more trying moments than this, so why was her aura feeling so scared? And as a gangster, he'd been considered one of the strongest, so why did this encounter leave him so vulnerable and helpless?

Her smock was undone, and now she was working on unfastening the belt for the yukata underneath. Gone was the teasing, the sly remarks, now this was just plain old Megumi, untying a knot. As much as he wanted to see her in "all her glory", if the time ever came, he wished that it would be willingly instead of being so forced. The air was so uncomfortable; Sanosuke decided that he would rather jump off a bridge than be in that room. 

Against all of his thoughts, his hand stopped hers before the belt had been completely untied. She looked up, bewilderment in her eyes. "No. I won't do this."

_Not against your will. _

"We're two grown adults Sanosuke, I think we can handle this."

He looked into her face. "I'm not talking about me."

Megumi's face registered both understanding and relief at the same time. She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. That sudden burst of insight and caring from someone like Sanosuke had totally thrown her off guard, and she couldn't understand how.

_That's... so thoughtful... I've never... _

He couldn't understand what exactly was going through Megumi's head, so he stammered to explain. "I mean... I'm just saying, ya' know... I can't do this if you'll be uncomfortable with it... and—" 

"Thank you, Sanosuke." She interrupted him, but he really didn't care. She didn't even have to say thank you, the look of gratitude on her face was enough for him. But that wasn't enough to prepare him for what she did next. Megumi stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his.

_F-Fox? _

Sanosuke would have given his left leg for that ability to peek into women's minds again, even if just for this moment. Finally, a kiss that was given willingly by the doctor and not _stolen_ from her. He found it difficult to smile as that thought crept into his head; Megumi would kill him if she found out that he had indeed stolen a kiss from her before, but just a chaste one on the cheek when she was sleeping.

A stolen moment.

Megumi had saved the life of one of his best friends after some local gangsters shot him with a wooden cannon. She had worked tirelessly into the early hours of morning, not once nodding off during the operation. Everyone else had already subdued to the peaceful release of sleep, but Megumi kept right on going. Hardly anyone Sanosuke knew would have that kind of loyalty to their friends, let alone a total stranger.

Finally, with the operation completed and his friend's life in safe hands, Megumi sank to the floor, hardly able to keep her eyes open. What she said next was what Sanosuke thought was the moment he fell in love with her: "He'll... be fine." See, she didn't complain about being tired, or didn't talk about how stupid he was to get shot, but she said that he would be fine. She was barely able to hang on herself, but instead choose to say, "He'll... be fine." 

No selfishness. 

_That was the moment. _

He remembered finding an old blanket in the corner and putting it on her. She didn't so much as stir. Just seeing her there... well...

_She was so beautiful. _

Megumi didn't even know why she initiated the kiss in the first place; perhaps it was pure desire. Perhaps it was just for the sake of spontaneity. No, she knew. Sagara Sanosuke was the second man who'd actually showed her compassion instead of treating her like some possession, the first being Kenshin. Actually, he was the fourth, the first and second being...

"I can't... " Sanosuke was so confused when Megumi abruptly pulled away, something unreadable in her eyes. "I just... can't..." With a flushed face, she bent over to pick up her smock, and with that, she ran out of the door.Megumi failed to notice until she was out of the bathhouse that she was dragging Sanosuke behind her. Here she was trying to get _away_ from him, and the more she ran, the closer he got.

_Those handcuffs be damned! _

Someday she could tell him. Someday she could let go of her pride. Someday...

"Megumi..." Sanosuke had firmly planted his feet on the ground, effectively stopping her from moving another inch. Megumi found herself wishing that the distance between them could grow another mile or so, five inches wasn't exactly a prime distance. Not then. Not now.

"I'm... I'm really sorry about that..." she stammered. "Just..."

"Why did you do that?"

She kept her back to him, not wanting to answer the question. "I... I don't know." Megumi could feel his eyes watching her, and she felt like she was going to crack under the close scrutiny. 

_Why did it have to be like this? _

She didn't know the answer. He didn't know the answer. Sanosuke could tell that she was embarrassed, but why? Was it that shameful to be caught kissing someone like him? It must have been, judging from the way Megumi wouldn't look at him. "Look on the bright side fox..." he paused. Dare he say it? "... it was a very good kiss."

Megumi forgot all her worries for that brief instant. Sanosuke always knew how to make her smile, and not only that; he came up with a way to salvage her dignity. He was so considerate and so nice...

_How come I didn't see that before? _

"I hope you were taking notes on that, you're probably never going to get that again."

Sanosuke sighed with relief. Megumi was back. The tense atmosphere had disappeared, now it felt like old times again. True, they both still needed baths, but there would be plenty of time to work that out in the next week. Upon hearing her last declaration, he shook his head with amusement. "I hope not fox. I really do hope not..." 

_Really? _

"You always know how to make me smile Sanosuke..." Dear Gods, did she say that out loud? He gave a cocky grin himself, his eyes twinkling. Yes, that had been out loud, but Sanosuke didn't choose this opportune time to banter. Instead, he stopped smiling and said something that she never would have expected from him in a million years: 

"I like to see you smile. You are really pretty when you—" 

A voice cut through the still air. "Sanosuke?! Megumi-dono?" Kenshin. They both walked over to the direction of his voice, not really speaking to the other. Sanosuke was embarrassed at saying she was pretty and she didn't say anything back. Megumi felt stupid herself for not having the courtesy of responding to his heartfelt comment. 

_It was one giant humiliation party. _

"Ah, so you're—" Kenshin stopped dead in his tracks. 

"What, Ken-san?" Megumi was in no mood to be teased, and judging from the way Sanosuke stood, she would say that he wasn't either. Kenshin immediately backed off, and lucky for him too. 

Kaoru looked shocked. "M-Megumi-san..." She pointed at the two, finger trembling. "W-What..." 

Sanosuke rolled his eyes and looked at where she was pointing. "So what?" Megumi tossed her head, unwilling to answer. "We _were_ going to take a bath... don't tell me that's illegal now..." 

"No, of course not..." Kaoru was stammering. "W-Well, I just thought that..." 

Megumi threw her hands up over her head. "Honestly! Can't we get any privacy around here? All I want to do is take a well-deserved bath that I haven't had since I've been cuffed! Can't I take off my smock for two stupid seconds while Sanosuke takes off his jacket... and..." Sanosuke was staring at her intently, while Kenshin suddenly became preoccupied with a piece of lint on his hakama. The look on Kaoru's face told Megumi that enough was enough. Kaoru seemed really regretful for bringing up the subject; she looked ready to cry. She hadn't even meant for it to be mean, she was just tired of those looks... Losing a friend was one of the last things that Megumi needed right now. 

She continued, her voice weary. "I just want to take a bath without everyone thinking like _that_ about us. That's all. Please, could you just..." 

Kenshin nodded. "I understand, Megumi-dono. We just wanted to make sure that you are all right." 

Kaoru had such a lost and forlorn look in her eyes that Sanosuke couldn't help but smile. "C'mon jou-chan, she didn't mean it... ya' know...", he leaned in towards Kaoru's ear and whispered something inaudible, effectively making Kaoru let out a small grin. "She didn't mean it, really." 

Megumi decided to keep her mouth shut; whatever Sanosuke had said obviously brightened Kaoru's spirits. In fact, Kaoru was practically squeezing the life out of her with a forceful hug. "Megumi-san, I'm sorry... we just wanted to make sure you haven't gone insane yet."

"Well... I'm... getting... there... Kaoruletgo..."

_What in the world did Sanosuke say to have such a reaction? _

Sanosuke peeled the too cheerful girl from her grip on Megumi's body. "What are ya' trying to do jou-chan? Suffocate her?" Kaoru mumbled a small apology, but her eyes told her that she was anything but sorry. She realized that Kenshin had already left the vicinity of the area, so she ran after him, heels clocking on the ground.

_That... was quick... _

Megumi raised her hand in disbelief. "Now, what just happened?"

"They came to check on us..." An intense concentration set itself into his jawline and his eyebrows. "That's... thoughtful," he finished.

_Something's... not quite right here... _

Megumi was oblivious to his thoughts. "By the way, what did you tell her?" She laid a hand on his chest absentmindedly, which felt really... pleasant against his bare skin. How he wished...

The concentration was gone, now replaced by amusement. "I told her... you missed that time of month."

Megumi opened her mouth. "Y-You did?" He nodded. She felt like decking him into next year. He knew, he had to. "You do know that missing that time of month is a perfectly normal thing, right?" He grinned. "It doesn't always mean that a woman is pregnant, you know..." His grin grew even wider.

All time stood still as the heavens paused to pay reverence to the ear shattering "SANOSUKE!!" God _Himself _couldn't have been more thunderous than the foxy doctor that day...

**************** 

"Sanosuke, are you asleep yet?" 

A low grumble rose from the other side of the futon. "Nope." 

"Why?" 

"Just... thinkin'." 

Megumi sat up and rested her head on her elbow. "About what?" They both decided that the screen door separating them was too bothersome to worry about during the nighttime, and that also restricted valuable sleeping space. The door's removal benefited Sanosuke more than it did herself; he was a "messy" sleeper, legs and arms splayed haphazardly to all angles. Strangely enough, the fact that he might roll over to her side of the futon didn't bother her in the least. Even stranger, he didn't make any kind of sly remark when they had agreed on it. How unlike Sanosuke. 

He shifted. "About... someone... that's all..." 

"Oh... I see..." Megumi felt awkward, it was as if he was saying something he really didn't want to. She concentrated on the darkened ceiling, barely able to make out the woven ridges. Moonlight spilled through the skeletal windows, casting lean shadows of the outdoor bamboo garden across the floor. All in all, it was a beautiful night. 

"There was someone I loved, then lost. I felt so... awful after she had gone..." 

_ She? _

Megumi felt her heart wrench. She bit her tongue to keep herself under control. "You must have loved her a lot..." 

_Love is a fickle mistress... _

"Yeah, I guess..." 

Silence. 

"I know you're going to think I'm going philosophical on you... Sano, do you... know what love is?" Megumi looked in his direction, even though she knew she couldn't see him. Darkness was always a good time to talk about things you don't want to talk about; if you say something embarrassing, then you can't see the other's reaction. Now was one of those times... 

The handcuff shook slightly. "No. I don't." 

"Oh." Megumi felt like she was going to cry. She had hoped that... "Didn't you love this girl?" 

"There's a fine line between love and lust, Megumi." 

"So there is..." 

_Damn damn damn... _

What exactly was the fox doctor getting at anyway? Not that he minded, but he would rather see her face when she talks to him, it makes for more heartfelt conversation. Did he sound too philosophical? Too idealistic? He wondered if Megumi thought that he was sounding too out of his character to say something like that, after all, he was "Sanosuke". It wasn't that he never had those thoughts, just too resigned to say them out loud. He could surprise all the people with the way he looked at the world... 

"You know... all the people I love seem to have a curse on them..." 

Sanosuke let out a small laugh. "How so?" 

She paused. "They're all dead." 

_Ouch. _

Sanosuke fumbled for words. "I'm sorry about that..."

"Don't be..." Megumi stopped. Sanosuke was afraid that she had decided to go to sleep, until a faint whimper alerted his senses. "Do you remember the doctor that Takeda Kanryuu had killed?"

He nodded. "The guy that you worked as an assistant for, right?" Yes, he remembered well. That part of Megumi's life was so horrible, and every night he would lie awake and think to himself that he was such a bastard for making it more difficult than it already was.

Another sniffle. "I loved him too. He was... we were... going to be married."

_Married? _

"Otou-san thought that I would be advance my medical career by working with another doctor, so he set me up with him. I... I didn't want to be married to someone who I thought looked like the people otou-san always talked with. We met, but he wasn't at all what I imagined. And after a while... he treated me like an equal." she paused. "Cursed. Everyone I love... cursed."

"... everyone?" Sanosuke felt an irrational pang of jealousy, how someone could take anyone Megumi like that was... painful. Megumi was not one to be owned, but they say if you own a person's heart, you own them. Someone _owned_ Megumi.

_And it wasn't him. _

"Yes. Everyone is gone..."

"You... still have me, fox." Sanosuke held his breath.

_Dumb move, you idiot... _

Silence. 

He felt her hand slide over his. Megumi's skin was cool to the touch, and her finger was involuntarily tracing the bones of his hand. It sent a shiver down his spine. "Of course I do. I... won't let you get cursed."

_Too late. _

Sanosuke closed his eyes. "I guess that kiss _did _mean something..."

"Everything has a meaning, sometimes you're just too..." Every vein and artery in her body was pulsing with a beat of its own. She didn't know what compelled her to lay her hand on his, it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. She was silently pleading, begging...

_Please don't hurt me... _

"By the way, why did ya' kiss me fox?"

Megumi shifted. "I was... just wondering what it would be like."

"Is that all?" He felt disappointed. "It had nothing to do with... love?"

Another silence.

"I don't know yet, Sanosuke."

"Ya' didn't answer my damn question." Sanosuke was starting to feel a little frustrated. God knows that he loved her, and it just ripped him apart that she couldn't even admit anything. Not even love as a friend. Couldn't she admit that she can at least _stand_ him? "I... I think I know what love is."

"Hn?" Sleep was already starting to creep over Megumi's body. Making that bold move seemed to drain all her energy. "Then what is love?"

"Love... is a giant pain in the ass."

_Love is giant pain in the ass. _"How philosophical of you."

_What an answer. How very like Megumi. _He expressed amusement at her words and wryly said, "That's as philosophical as I get, fox."

"My idea of philosophy is this: Love is an odd game, either there's two winners or there are none."

"That's what makes it a pain in the ass." 

Megumi smiled just before drifting off to sleep. _How very like Sanosuke._

**************** 

Megumi felt a jolt of panic and terror when something was rudely placed over her mouth. She felt disoriented and stricken with fear, so she opened her mouth to scream. Of course, this was futile. 

"Don't say anything. Be very, very quiet..." 

She meant to say something along the lines of "Sanosuke! What is the meaning of this!" but all that came out was a muffled noise. How dare he! Kiss her while she was sleeping? How dare he?!? 

Sanosuke flinched when her teeth bit down on his hand. Hard. "What the hell are ya' trying to do?" he snapped back in surprise. It didn't hurt that much, but why in God's name... 

Megumi had never been so embarrassed in her life. Thinking Sanosuke would have that kind of gall? She felt a twang of guilt at not trusting him enough to still be suspicious of him, even though he entirely trusted her. 

It was his hand, not his mouth... it was his hand... not his mouth... 

"Too bad." 

_Huh? _"Too bad what, Megumi?" 

_Oh Gods... that was out loud! _

"A... what I meant to say w—" 

The hand clamped over her mouth again. "Listen. Don't you... hear it?" All she heard for a couple minutes was the sound of her blood rushing through her ears. His hand felt scratchy against her face, but it wasn't that that startled Megumi. It was the fact that his hand felt incredibly soft. It was the feeling _behind_ the hand... 

"Listen fox!" 

Megumi finally heard what Sanosuke was so concerned about. 

_Ryuu-chan? You stopped... _

The cricket had ceased chirping. 

Maybe it was her sleep-deprived mind, or maybe the fact that her heart was racing from their supposed "kiss", but the next parts frightened Megumi out of her wits. First, scratching. Violent scratching, like a giant cat was trying to get inside the house. Then, silence. Then the scratching continued, even louder this time. 

_It has to be a cat, yes, an enormous cat... _

What a simply ridiculous idea... 

Sanosuke's eyes glinted in the darkness; Megumi had never seen such a fire before. He involuntarily hugged her closer to protect her, not realizing that Megumi's senses were being wrecked because of it. Sanosuke was alert, eyes wide open and ears pricked to detect the faintest sound. Megumi would have found humor in the situation if she hadn't been so scared, he reminded her of a dog protecting its last morsel of meat... 

"Fox! Look out!" The crystalline sound of glass shattering snapped her out of her thoughts. She could make out a faint light through the many panes of rice paper that partitioned the rooms. Something bright, something glowing... something... 

Sanosuke's eyes widened just as Megumi realized what she smelled. 

Gods... 

She was aggressively yanked to her feet by means of the handcuff, but despite the earlier pain with her skin, Megumi didn't feel a thing. Sanosuke dragged her in the direction of the light, throwing aside doors and running over everything in his way. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, after all, but not when her precious belongings are concerned! 

"Hey... that's expensive stuff..." 

Sanosuke noted the sarcasm in her voice. "Now's not really a good time to be like that fox..." He did feel somewhat dumb for knocking over all her things, but he wouldn't have noticed that until she said so. How very like Megumi. 

He slid the last door open to reveal a torch lying in the center of the room, but the flames on that torch had not spread an inch. Sanosuke didn't want to get Megumi involved and almost told her to go back to bed, but he forgot that they were still handcuffed. What bad timing. 

The gangster cautiously stepped forward and tried to keep as much distance possible from Megumi and him. He picked up the burning stick; it didn't do as much damage as it should have. Sanosuke knew why. The person who threw this was an amateur and didn't drench the wadding with kerosene, like what was standard procedure. A properly lit torch would have consumed at least half of this room in the time it took to get here... this one only singed the tatami mat so that a 5 inch section of it was slightly browned. 

How sad. 

Megumi spoke up, "A prank?" 

Sanosuke nodded. A professional would have known the kerosene was the key, so it had to be a prank. "Stupid punks. I just—" 

"Sanosuke!! Throw it out! Out!!" The doctor's voice was panicked. On impulse, he swung his arm back and the slightly glowing stick was sailing through the air. Sanosuke felt a hard tackle come down from his left; he would have hit the person if he didn't smell them first. Wisteria meant that it was indeed Megumi. 

"Wha—" 

A fiery explosion rattled the frail house almost off its supports. Bottles and bandages from shelves fell to the ground, bouncing on the reed floor. Sanosuke's eyes hurt from the sudden flash of light. He felt the ground underneath him tremble, the house held up well under that kind of explosion. 

_That blast came from that damn stick thing? _

Sanosuke felt a twinge. If Megumi hadn't told him to throw it out... Megumi!! 

He lifted his head and saw Megumi lightly hugging his waist, face turned away from him. She wasn't moving. Sanosuke bolted upright faster than it took for the explosion to occur and picked Megumi up by her shoulders. "That hurts, rooster... how about you try some proper medical procedures?" 

"Medical procedures be damned, you need to stand up so we can..." Sanosuke didn't see the fire raging outside; he didn't hear the crackling of burning wood and the smell of acrid smoke. All he cared about was the doctor's safety. He knelt down and lifted her chin up. Another smell alerted his senses. Hair. 

Burnt hair. 

Thank the Gods; her hair wasn't on fire. Sanosuke didn't even realize that the smell was coming from his own head, not hers. So happy and thankful that it didn't cause any more damage, he impulsively hugged Megumi. "How did you know?" The fact that she didn't hug him back disturbed him, but he surprised even himself. 

Megumi pushed him away with her hand, startled at his reaction. She saw hurt in his eyes, but she answered in a quivering voice. "I've seen Kanryuu use that tactic before, you stuff gunpowder inside a hollowed out stick and light the end of it. It doesn't burn, so no one suspects..." She smiled weakly, "If your arm would have been blown off I wouldn't have heard the end of it." 

Sanosuke grinned and brushed off a bit of soot off her cheek. Megumi was underestimating, that would have taken more than his arm if she hadn't said anything. He gazed into her face, trying to decipher every word that she had said. The Megumi he knew wouldn't have said anything and just let his arm be ripped off. 

Right? 

Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but maybe she... 

"Sanosuke, I don't want to go back to sleep." Megumi nuzzled up close to him. She hoped that it would appear that she wasn't scared, but in truth, she was terrified. Anything can happen during sleep, that's when you're off your guard. She couldn't decide whether it was better to close her eyes and see Sanosuke or open them and try to ignore him. 

They both hurt. 

He looked outside through a hole in the door where he had thrown the stick. The fire had gone out, after all, he threw it far away from the house and there wasn't much to burn there. Sanosuke was astonished at how light she felt in his arms, and how she seemed to shrink into herself when she closed her eyes. "We'll go to Kenshin when the sun comes up, you can sleep until then..." 

_Kenshin. _

Sanosuke wrinkled his nose; how he hated it when he needed the redhead's help in fighting battles. It made him feel like an invalid who couldn't do anything for himself. The gunpowder filled stick attested that the enemy definitely wasn't ordinary, even he hadn't heard of such a thing before... 

He hugged Megumi closer. She had already gone into her breathing pattern when she was sleeping, but he couldn't be sure that she was asleep. This cinched it. There _definitely_ was a secret behind this handcuffing that someone wasn't going to admit. If someone wanted to hurt him, that's fine, but if someone wanted to hurt Megumi, they were getting more than they bargained for... 

And so Sagara Sanosuke watched, and waited, for the first rays of daylight to penetrate the earth. He realized that he had never been happier in his life except when he held Megumi, and he would be willing to sacrifice his sleep for her peace of mind. 

He chuckled. No way Megumi would go for that, she'd say something like "What have you done with the chicken-head I know?" 

How very like Megumi. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Author's notes: Well kiddies, one more chapter to go! This is my first fic that has over half the reviews put on favorites lists, you guys freakin' rock! That was my inspiration for this chapter, so review. It does a body good. Hasta! ^_^ 


	4. Chapter Four

Oh my goodness, I thought that this would be the last chapter, but I didn't foresee that it would take this long! I'm so sorry!! I can guarantee that this is the _second_ to last chapter, and if I lie again, you can string me up by my toes and feed me to rabid ducks. 

A special thanks goes to Arashi and her wonderful fanfiction "Run To You: Tales of Meiji 16" for inspiration. Her fic is one of the best I have had the honor of beta reading. Original plotline, original everything, so your time won't be wasted. Go have a gander at it once you're done with this ^_^ 

*********

**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapter Four**_  
_By: Karina Kineshi

"Fujita-san, we caught a disturbance near the house of the Takani woman."

"Really?"

The man he was talking with was his second-in-command, a bit young for an officer, but he had remarkable patience and determination. Saitoh likened this man to himself when he was younger. He had long black hair that went past his shoulders, and a pair of black-rimmed spectacles that he kept constantly pushing up. "Yes, an explosion as a matter of fact. The agent was determined to be potassium nitrate crystals packed inside an emptied wooden tube."

Saitoh nodded his head, impressed at the sheer genius of it. "I see... so it will explode and not burn... clever..." This person had to be well versed in gunpowder mechanics; a false move could cripple or even kill a fully-grown man. The slightest bit of heat or the tiniest spark when mixing the ingredients together would prove fatal. Despite all Saitoh's knowledge of the world, there were a couple things that he would need help on, even though he'd never admit it to himself.

There were only one person he knew of who could help even more in the matter...

"This still doesn't get us any step closer to..."

_ Gunpowder... _

"... I don't know where we can go from here..."

_ Tsukioka Katsuhiro. _

Saitoh raised his hand after hitting his revelation. "Prepare a coach outside, I need to be leaving immediately."

The young man reciting off the facts pushed the glasses further up on his nose and blinked. "This late at night? What for?"

A wolfish smile crept over the Shinsen-gumi's features that made the man shudder. "A have a visit to pay to the Battousai."

************************

"Rooster, that was a one time thing, don't get your hopes up."

_Daaaaammmmmnnnn... _

Sanosuke shook his head. "Is that all you're worried about right now? In case you've forgotten, there's a lunatic trying to kill you."

Megumi appeared thoughtful for a moment, and then held up her hand. "Wait a minute, how do you know that it's _me_ they want, and not _you_?"

He shrugged; good question. "I don't know, but how would anyone know to find me here? The most logical place a doctor would be is her house, with me, you never know where I'm going to be..." Sanosuke smiled. "Hell, if they were bombing me, they have to start with every gambling joint from here to—"

"— you certainly know how to comfort a woman's tormented mind, rooster." Megumi rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I only said that because if they were after you, you'd be strong enough to beat the daylights out of them. I on the other hand..." Megumi creased her eyebrows and made a circle on the floor with her toe. "... I have nothing with which to defend myself. Unless you count medicines."

Sanosuke felt horrible; he really didn't mean for it to mean what it did. In saying what he said, he was talking about _himself_, but she took a hint that wasn't even there and assumed he was talking about her. He remembered wrapping his arm around her and hugging her, even though he didn't remember his mind telling his arm to do so. "C'mon fox, you know I didn't mean it that way..." Megumi buried her face in his shoulder, and her hair was tickling his chin. "Besides, you know you've always got me to protect you."

Strangely enough, the words just rolled out of his mouth. About 4 days ago, he couldn't have said that without smiling and her peering up at him like he was insane. But now... they just sat there in the early morning light, holding each other, not sure what to say next.

Nothing had to be said.

"Sometimes... I wonder why you don't show the caring side of you more often than you do..." Megumi raised her head, almost two inches away from his nose. "Thank you, I really appreciate it." She was confused; it was like Sanosuke had a double personality. When he wasn't in public, he was so kind and caring. 

_So concerned for her own safety that he would risk his own... but in public... _

Sanosuke closed his eyes, getting himself ready for the kiss that was _sure_ to come. He would be ready this time, being caught off guard at the bathhouse was not exactly what he considered a real kiss, until Megumi did something so unexpected he could only look at her in silence.

She broke away before they could even touch. Instead, she asked a faint question, so quiet he could hardly distinguish it from the rushing blood in his ears. "Shouldn't we be getting to Ken-san's now?"

Megumi caught something in Sanosuke's eyes that she had seen only briefly once before. The same day that they were supposedly going to take a bath together, and his refusal to get in there if she was uncomfortable with it. It didn't take a fool to see that he wanted to, but yet... after she had unthinkingly kissed him, and just prior to Kaoru and Kenshin's visit, she saw...

Frustration.

The look in his eyes was mingled with pain and dejection; she'd never seen that look before. Not even his physical pain when he stumbled into the clinic many late nights could compare with this now.

She had hurt him... again.

"Yeah... let's go to Kenshin..." Sanosuke's voice was distant. Megumi's heart cried for him; she just could not understand why she persisted in making herself suffer like this. She wasn't doing it on purpose—

Sanosuke tugged on the handcuff, but his eyes never left the door. He looked tired now; his eyes had no glow to them whatsoever. "Fox. Let's go."

Megumi felt so far from Sanosuke, unreachable although he was 4 inches away.

************************

_Damn you Megumi... _

Sanosuke knew he was acting distant and cold towards her, but he _had_ to. He couldn't understand what exactly it was about her that made him do this, but when she didn't do what he _knew_ she was going to, it was a form of rejection. Of course, this brought to issue the fact that she's a prominent woman in society, and he was a worthless nobody. 

That fact made him sick to his stomach. How he wanted to change, and he would gladly if it meant that it would make Megumi happy. He already knew it would make her happy, a brawling gangster off the streets and getting on with his life, but he wanted her to be happy in the way that...

Not a friendship kind of happy, the kind of happy when she gave him that rare smile when he did something that he had planned for weeks.

He'd do it for the look of happiness on her face when she's asleep; free form all the world's troubles.

The kind of happy he saw on her face when she sees him first thing in the morning and whispers, "I hope you had a good night's sleep."

It was a dream to be scoffed at. That was exactly the reason why he hasn't gone and reformed his life; the only motivator would be that look of happiness. He knew he just couldn't take it if she laughed at him; it was comparable to being in front of a firing squad and _seeing_ the executioners fire at you. It would make him a better man, but the risk of her jeers was just too much to handle. 

Without her, it wouldn't be worth it.

_Sanosuke... what are you thinking? _

Megumi didn't know what to do; they had been walking in silence for the past few minutes to the dojo. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, nor was it unwanted. It was the kind of quiet called the "thinking" quiet. If a word were said, it would interrupt the flow of thoughts from both parties.

_ Say something... _

They took the back way to Kaoru's place, and although Sanosuke didn't explain, she knew very well why. Walking in broad daylight together, not only would it serve to give off their location to their unknown attacker, but also it was that public issue again. 

Megumi knew that Sanosuke didn't want to be seen with her outside the house, for personal reasons. Any man would kill to have someone like her to walk with, she didn't say this because she was self-confident, but because many men had told her so. She knew her status in the community embarrassed him, all the looks that people gave them when they were together attested to that. They all said, "What's a lowlife like him doing with a woman like her?"

_ I don't want to be a prize for others! I want to be a prize for... _

Sanosuke stopped behind a wooden fence and peered around the corner. The Kamiya dojo was in sight about a hundred yards down the street. Megumi found herself inadvertently holding his arm, gripping his sleeve as if letting go would yank him away from her. He stood up perfectly straight and turned around, gazing into her eyes with the utmost seriousness. "Fox, you're going to have to run with me." He couldn't risk walking and being caught in the open, especially with her.

"Run?" The look in her eyes said that she was wondering if she could make it at all. Don't get her wrong, she was an agile woman, but running with handcuffs on? And not only that, but handcuffed to a much stronger and faster person? She winced. "I'll just slow you down. We'll figure out a way to take these cuffs off and you can go."

"Are you _crazy_?!? Leave you here? _You're_ the one who needs protection you know, I'm not leaving you by yourself next to some fence!" Sanosuke blinked in astonishment and anger. Did she just suggest what he _thought_ she just did? He wanted to shake some sense into her. What was she _thinking_?

Rage filled Megumi's eyes. She furiously tried to slip her hand through the handcuff, turning her fingers white in the process. Sanosuke could only stare; it looked like she was going to rip her arm off. "I'm not as fast as you! I'm not going to risk your safety either, you big dolt!" Sanosuke was speechless; the skin around her wrist was turning even redder, every passing moment it appeared ready to start bleeding.

There was only one thing to do.

"Sanosuke! What do you think—" Megumi's voice went unnaturally high on the first syllable. The man had scooped her up like a bucket of water and was carrying her in his arms like a newborn. "This is..."

_Maybe he'll run so fast no one will see this... _

He inhaled deeply, ready to sprint the short distance. Making sure Megumi was secure in his clutch; he readied his feet to get more traction.

"Wait." She grabbed his neck. "Before you go, do you know what you'll do once we get there? You can't very well sprint to the door and wait for Kaoru to come to the door. It will be wasted."

He gave her a small smile. "I'll think of that while I'm running over there." Sanosuke looked at her with all seriousness. "I don't want anyone to hurt you, least of all some sneaky bastards I don't even know. Don't talk while we're over there, or on the way over." His eyes grew soft, and Megumi mused how they were like windows to his thoughts. Sanosuke could never hide his feelings; the eyes would give it away. She also noticed that his face was agonizingly close to hers.

"I just wanted you to know fox... when I hugged you last night... that was the happiest I've ever been in a long time."

A brief "thinking" silence, a sharp intake of breath, and in the time it took Megumi to blink, Sanosuke was off. He was flying over the ground as if his feet weren't even touching. The best word would be gliding. And despite her precarious position, she oddly didn't feel any sort of discomfort. What he said was enough to shock her speechless, but she wasn't ready to jump out of his grasp like she normally would be.

_Oh God... _

Megumi tugged on Sanosuke's sleeve, eyes glued open in horror. He wasn't slowing down, and they were heading straight towards the wall. Not only that, but instead of slowing down, he was speeding up. Didn't he say he'd figure this out?!

"We're going to hit—" Megumi buried her face in his chest, not wanting to let the wall smack her in the face. She had never seen so many images race through her head as when she was hurtling towards that wall. Megumi clutched his jacket tighter; if she was going to die, then this would be how she wanted to be remembered as.

_I can see it now... "Woman holding cloth so tight doctors were unable to pry it from hand. Doctors forced to cut hand off with dull scissors!" _

"Hold on fox, we're gonna fly..." Sanosuke's voice was not even labored; Megumi thought that from running so fast he'd be winded just a little bit.

_Fly? _

It struck her just as Sanosuke leapt off the ground. She involuntarily closed her eyes, now would not be a good time to mention that she was afraid of heights. He'd make fun of her, knowing him... She felt the wind whipping around her face and neck; it really _did_ feel like she was flying. Megumi had always been wary of this flying feeling, she had heard Sanosuke mention it once before. That "flying feeling" is what women have when they were in love with someone.

She nodded and agreed, but not when Sanosuke said that she had the flying feeling once before too. Megumi demanded to know what he meant, although she knew perfectly well what he was saying. She didn't know he could read her mind at the time, how was she supposed to hide her feelings? Sanosuke's eyes went all soft when she said that she doesn't like that flying feeling because everyone had to fall from the sky sometime.

_ Even angels fall... _

Sanosuke then said something that gave her that distinct, dreaded feeling. "Don't worry fox, I'll be there to catch you."

_ She was flying... _

Sanosuke blinked, he'd been standing on solid ground for about thirty seconds now and Megumi still hadn't moved. Her eyes were shut tight and she was holding his jacket lining in a death grip, as if letting go would constitute a crime. He smiled; she looked so childish with her bangs covering her face like a protective net. 

_'How long will it take her to notice we aren't in the air anymore?' _he mused.

He cleared his throat, "We're here." She looked up at him, baffled. Sanosuke loved that look; it wasn't a look that came too often. They just stood there and stared at each other for a couple more minutes, Megumi's eyes were _con_fused and Sanosuke's were _a_mused.

"Oi... you can get off now if you want."

"Get off?" Megumi was totally lost until she looked down and saw that he was still holding her in his arms. "Get... off..." She pushed against his chest and Sanosuke let go gently, guiding her to the ground like an elderly woman. Megumi had a dazed expression plastered all over her face; Sanosuke was starting to fear that she'd lost her mind. 

Suddenly, something clicked inside Megumi face, she shook her head and blinked a couple of times. "You made it over, I don't believe... Why couldn't you tell me you're going to jump over the stupid wall instead of making me think we were going _through_ it? You gave me a heart attack!"

Sanosuke grinned. "Impressed?" That angry tone she was using meant that she wasn't angry, or even irritated. It was her way of complimenting him on something. He had figured that out with spending all this time handcuffed to her, he wouldn't have known it otherwise.

Megumi's mouth rose at only one corner. "Impressed? Hardly." Then she walked away towards the dojo with Sanosuke following close behind.

_Yep, she was impressed. _

Sanosuke crept over to the side of the dojo as quietly as he could allow; and except for the rattling of the handcuff, everything was silent. He strained to hear for any signs of movement or life. There were none.

"Fox, I don't think they're home." Sanosuke whispered.

"..."

She was oddly quiet. He couldn't see her behind him, but he assumed that all was right. Just to make sure, Sanosuke jiggled the handcuff. "I said, I don't think—"

A hand spun him around so quickly; he felt all the adrenaline rush to his heart. "— just what the _hell_ do you think you're doing here, rooster boy?" He now noticed the cause of Megumi's lack of talking, she was intimidated by a very tall, very menacing...

"Idiot. Did I not tell you to stay in your cage?" Saitoh sneered and took out his ever-present cigarette from his left breast pocket. Behind him were a rather serious faced Kenshin and an astonished Kaoru. Megumi was stunned speechless; this didn't look like a friendly get together. Saitoh turned and blew some smoke into the air above her, "I thought you'd keep this moron in line. Why did you leave?"

Megumi just stared dumbfounded. Her mouth refused to work; Saitoh really had a way of making you tremble before him. All she could do was just shrug, as if to say, "I don't know! Leave me alone!"

Luckily, Kenshin stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Sanosuke instinctively pulled away and put himself between Kenshin and Megumi. "Sano, we have to talk."

Saitoh snorted. "Battousai, do you suppose that is a smart move?"

Kaoru rolled her eyes. "C'mon Fujita-_san_," she said enunciating the honorific, "Stop pretending that you don't care for their safety." Saitoh merely flicked some ash off the end of his cigarette and took a long drag.

Kenshin reassuringly put a hand on Sanosuke's shoulder. "There's something that going on, and you and Megumi-dono are in danger." 

Sanosuke's face was completely devoid of any emotion. He moved closer to Megumi. "First, you can tell me why Katsu is here, and then we can talk." Megumi was glad that Sanosuke was doing all the talking for her. She herself had no idea why she wanted to go to Kenshin's. At first, it was for protection, but then she realized that she had all the protection she needed in the man who was handcuffed to her.

Kenshin's eyes narrowed while Saitoh's grew slightly. "Eh... you found out that Tsukioka Katsuhiro was here?" Sanosuke gave him a look that said 'Yeah, are you stupid?'

As if on cue, Sanosuke saw a shadow move from the corner of the dojo. With a jolt, he saw that it was indeed his reclusive ex-Sekihoutai friend. With a slight head nod, a "Sanosuke, Megumi-sensei" and a couple seconds of tension, the six people entered the dojo to talk about some much-needed business.

************************

Megumi grimaced. Saitoh had dropped the bombshell on them but 20 seconds ago, and she could have sworn that those were the longest 20 seconds of her life. Kenshin merely closed his eyes and nodded, Kaoru was looking everywhere around the room but at Saitoh, Katsu was staring slack jawed _at_ Saitoh, and Sanosuke felt like strangling the daylights of the policeman.

If there _was_ any daylight in him...

Kenshin cleared his throat. "You know Saitoh, there was a more tactful way of telling them other than 'Your ass is being tracked down by a bloodthirsty savage'." 

Saitoh shrugged. "If you're going to tell the truth, you might as well be as blunt as possible. I don't like to give it sugar coated."

Megumi felt the handcuff pull on her wrist and the veritable waves of anger radiating from Sanosuke. It made her heart skip just to be sitting next to him when he was angry, like his electrical signals were strong enough to control her muscle movement. "You damn... you..." Sanosuke clenched his fist. "How long did you know this?"

"Only since we talked to your little buddy here. We have been watching you since the very beginning of the whole episode and we've kept it under wraps this long to make sure you wouldn't interfere."

"Interfere?!?" Megumi slammed her hand down on the table, effectively making Kaoru jump back in surprise. "The only one who's interfering here is _you_! This is our business, and I'm sure that one lunatic is enough to handle by us. We don't need the help of the entire force..."

"... on the contrary, Megumi-sensei." These were the first words to come out of the mouth of the man known as Katsu. He was apparently a very good friend of Sanosuke, and he even shared the same headband tied around his forehead, except his was a forest green color instead of red. "That explosion you had last night—"

"— explosion? How the _hell_ did you know about that?"

Katsu didn't seem fazed by his friend's outburst. Before he could explain, Saitoh cut in. "We've been watching since the beginning, you idiot. A giant ball of fire is rather hard to miss." He puffed on the cigarette and snorted. "Idiot."

"Damn you..."

Kenshin's voice of reason rang above the rest. "Saitoh, tell them who you figured it was." Kaoru got to her feet and walked out of the room, possibly to make more tea. 

Megumi almost followed after her, talking with the men in this kind of important business was not a woman's place. She almost rose when Saitoh actually put out his cigarette with the back of his hand. "Does the name Hoshino ring a bell?"

She shook her head, so Saitoh continued. "We had Tsukioka Tsunan here analyze the type of gunpowder the was used, and we came up with some interesting results."

Sanosuke growled, obviously mad that one of his friends was working so closely in conjunction with one of his worst enemies. Katsu raised his arms as if to clear his name, then continued. "This guy gave me some samples to check on, and there was something that gave away where this guy was hiding." 

He took out a small paper sack and opened it. Megumi peered inside; it was just a bunch of ashes and dust. "So... explain what this means already..." Sanosuke didn't look impressed.

"Well, most gunpowder is made out of potassium nitrate, just like the people at the police force say. But..." Katsu reached into the bad, pulled out some soot, and rubbed it in between his fingers. "... this gunpowder was made out of sodium nitrate, meaning that it absorbs moisture a lot more than gunpowder made of potassium nitrate." Katsu noted the blank look on his friend's face and summarized. "Meaning, if this gunpowder here had not absorbed any water, it could have been even more deadly."

Megumi was starting to understand just what Katsu was getting at, but Sanosuke still looked lost. "So... the moisture content has to do with where it was made, right?"

Saitoh nodded. "There's only one area in Japan that is so secluded by mountains that moisture is trapped. These streams in the mountains flow into the Tadami and Okawa rivers, and these empty into the basin, where it finally goes to another river and into the Sea of Japan."

_It can't be... _

"This place also has the honor of housing the fourth largest lake in Japan, and the highest average winter snowfall per year, over four meters." Saitoh turned to Sanosuke. "This means that this place has the highest moisture content in Japan, not only that, but the mountains there are rich in sodium nitrate. Are you understanding?"

Sanosuke nodded. Satisfied, Saitoh looked at Megumi from beneath hooded eyelids. "Now, do you know where this place is?"

Megumi didn't trust her voice; she felt just so tired and shellshocked that all she could do was manage breathing. She never would have thought in a million years that the person who was trying to kill her came from her own hometown.

Aizu.

"Aizu..." she numbly repeated. "He's from Aizu..."

Sanosuke's head snapped up in disbelief. "The guy's from Aizu?"

Miburo's Wolf stared at Katsu. "Thank you, that will be all. I think we can handle it from here." 

Katsu refused to move. 

"I said you could leave now."

Katsu snorted. "Please, I know who you are. Saitoh Hajime, captain of the 3rd unit of the Shinsengumi. I already know everything about this case just by the look in your eyes..." He turned and grinned at Sanosuke. "This is my payment for the information regarding the gunpowder; we Sekihoutai never give anything away for free."

Sanosuke shook his head in amusement. 

_That was Katsu for you, the idiot... _

Saitoh briefly considered the man's words and Megumi flinched when he shot the artist what looked like a dirty look. After an eternity of _that_ look, he smirked. "I like you. If you know who I am then you've got guts to be speaking to me that way." He jerked his thumb at Sanosuke and wryly smiled. "How the hell did you get associated a moron like this one?"

"Dammit Saitoh, just get to the point. What's the plan?"

Kenshin and Saitoh both locked eyes for a second, then looked away. It was Kenshin who then spoke. "We plan to trap this Hoshino at your house, but we are going to need your help."

Sanosuke folded his arms. "I get it; you're going to use the fox as bait."

"Sano, we'd never put you in a situation that would be dangerous. We'll protect you."

"I'm not the one who needs protecting, Kenshin."

_Sanosuke... do you care that much about me? _

Megumi pondered the weight of his words; he really had a way of making her feel really loved, even though she knew he didn't do it on purpose. Men would have a heart attack if women would tell them that it wasn't what you did on purpose that matters, but how you act on impulse that counts. Every woman wants to feel safe, and if the man that they love is guaranteeing their safety...

_ ... they may as well be offering their heart on the table. _

"I know you're concerned about me, but..." Megumi laid a hand on Sano's, and upon doing so he visibly relaxed. "As long as I'm with you, I shouldn't need protection from anyone else, right?"

Saitoh rolled his eyes. "Isn't that just... _peachy_?" He drawled out the last word and got to his feet silently. "I'm a busy man, Battousai will give you the details on the assignment." 

Kenshin regarded him with a nod while Saitoh stepped out of the room. He turned to Megumi and gave a friendly smile. "Don't worry, Megumi-dono. I'll make sure that no one will hurt you."

Sanosuke brushed his bangs out of his eyes in exasperation. "Kenshin, when did you know about this, and when were you planning on telling us? We might have needed help."

The redhead closed his eyes and smiled warmly. "According to Megumi-dono, all the help she needs is handcuffed to her." 


	5. Chapter Five

*sighs* Why do you guys bother hanging around me this often? I'm a no-good, lying sack of carp (no, that isn't a typo...) Maybe it's my incredible love of detail (aka I talk too much), but I just can't seem to finish this story in one chapter. It can't be done. I'm not good enough to do that... expect two to three chapters more, and maybe an epilogue. *walks to the zoo with string* Bring on the rabid ducks!

I admit, this is different for me, it's different. I'm insecure with my fics as of now, questioning my style... Enjoy the show!

*********

**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapter Five**_  
_By: Karina Kineshi

_ He's from Aizu. _

In the hours following the announcement from Saitoh, Megumi racked her mind trying to think of who would do such a thing to her. She wasn't a stupid woman; it didn't take a genius to see that the man was felt threatened by a female doctor. Maybe he was a doctor from Aizu and somehow, felt that she was taking his business away from him. Megumi shook her head; Aizu and Tokyo were far enough away from each other that a person in dire need of help would go all the way to Tokyo just to see a female.

But who was he then?

Maybe a man her father knew? Maybe someone her father treated? Maybe a man with a grudge against the Takani family? Maybe...

"Megumi..." Sanosuke was lounging full length on the one piece of furniture that she _did_ own, a European style divan with two ends. She was only resting her elbow on one end while sitting straight up while Sanosuke was lying down. "... are you all right?"

"Of course I'm not all right!" she snapped. "Does it look like it?!" How could he sit there so calmly, gnawing on the infernal fishbone as if everything was just _peachy_?

Sanosuke didn't even so much as blink, as if he was expecting her outburst. The silence had grown too overbearing for him, and the way she was sitting, tense, unmoving, had to be stopped. She needed to let off some steam that she was holding inside, and who better to do it with than him? After all, they had not gotten over their mutual "arguing" partners relationship yet. "Hey, don't yell at me. We've got to figure out a way to get this guy here."

She sighed; he didn't like to be left out of the loop. He had no idea why this guy was targeting her either, but at least Megumi had a little bit to go on. He was still left completely in the dark. "We'll just go according to Saitoh's plan..."

"Yeah... right... and this is from the same idiot who _still_ insists on keeping us handcuffed together." He itched his knee while staring disdainfully at the metal ring. "Wouldn't it be so much easier if he could just unlock the damn thing and let me beat the crap out of this eagle man?"

"I suppose..."

He sat up with his eyes shining. Sanosuke looked so happy when he got permission to break something... "All right! It's gone!"

"Don't!" She grabbed his fist just in time before he swung. "There's obviously a reason why he's doing this..."

"But..." His eyes held unmasked concern. "... but... if I don't do this, then you'll be a sitting duck handcuffed to me. If the plan doesn't work, then I might..." Sanosuke's eyes bored into her and seemed to look straight through her. God, how she loved those eyes. "I don't want to lose you."

Megumi laughed wryly. "No, you wouldn't want to lose me. Who would patch you up afterwards?" The comment had caught her off guard, and she hoped that what she said would deter him from making future ones.

He shook his head and smiled. "You know that's not what I mean, fox."

"You talk to me as if there's no hope! As if I'm already dead..." Megumi halfheartedly laughed. "We'll have time for goodbyes when Saitoh unlocks us... after you beat the crap out of whoever is doing this. Right?"

"Right." It felt wonderful to finally be the one to save her. It was always Kenshin this and sometimes even Yahiko, but now it was Sanosuke's turn. And the fact that she trusted him so fully also gave him a new determination.

"Promise me you won't lose."

He shook his head sadly. There was still the matter to be resolved about the imminent fight with Washimoto Hoshino. This man, whoever he was, had to be rich. He was rich enough to know that tactic with the gunpowder, secrets like that don't come cheap. His father was a high-ranking Meiji politician with lots of money, and with him dead; the son would claim the inheritance. Money buys power, and power buys lots of guards. It was likely that Sanosuke would be one fighting a horde of well-trained hitmen. "I haven't lost yet, and I'm sure as hell not going to start now."

Megumi looked relieved. "And besides, it's not like you're going to be alone... Kenshin will be there."

_ Gods! The 'Let's depend on Kenshin to save our asses' maneuver again! _

"I can handle them by myself! I'll be perfectly fine..."

Megumi didn't miss the anger in his voice and scooted closer to her edge of the divan. "He's not going to jump in until it looks like you're in trouble..."

He slammed his fist down on the cushion and made her heart jump. "Dammit, that's not the _point_ Megumi!" Sanosuke sounded hurt. "Don't they trust me enough to handle this on my own? Don't you?"

She gently smiled and put a hand on his handcuff. "Of course I trust you, why do you think I'm not panicking right now? Kenshin is only the back-up, but the spotlight's on you." Sanosuke still wasn't relaxed, so she grinned again. "You don't have to show off to prove to me that you can handle the situation."

"Che... I'm not showing off for anyone..." He childishly flicked his bangs out of his face. "I just don't want people moving in on my territory."

"Since when did my clinic become your territory?"

He stretched out again, this time more visibly unwound. "It began the moment I got cuffed to you, fox."

That unnerved her. He now considered all this his? Was she included as a package deal? She scoffed, "Of course, it will end the moment he sets us free."

"I hope not."

Megumi laughed nervously. He gotten a lot more open now since the announcement had been made; maybe he _was_ worried for her safety. The kind and caring Sanosuke that had been present for the past couple of hours was making her stumble all over herself, and coupled with those poignant and intense eyes... "I think we should start phase two of the mission now."

He nodded slowly and got up, making particularly sure that the handcuff didn't drag her to her feet. That red ring around her wrist was really starting to worry him; couldn't she see how inflamed it was.

_ Well, she is a doctor after all... I'm sure she notices... _

Sanosuke graciously slid open the shoji and rested his hand on the edge, allowing Megumi to pass through first. He continued looking at the ground until Megumi swept by. He grinned. "Remember, stay close to me."

Megumi scowled and pulled her sleeve down as far as it would go over the handcuff chain, effectively hiding it partially. "Do I have a choice?"

"Nope."

************************

"S-She's walkin' down the street..." a disbelieving voice announced. 

Another man slammed two legs of the chair he was sitting down on and put his hands on his knees, startled out of sleep. "'Ere?"

The first man squinted his eyes. "In front of the restaurant..." His eyes widened in fear. "Holy Jesus..."

"Why didn't the bomb kill 'er.?" The second man scrambled over to where the first one was perched and leaned over the rooftop. He paused, and then casually struck the first man upside the head. "Did you fuck up wit' the bomb?"

"Nuh-uh... I swear! Maybe he had somethin' to do with it..."

The second man snorted. 

"Look for yo'self!"

"I still say you fucked up wit' the bomb..." Upon not getting an answer from his companion except some labored breathing, he took a second look at the woman strolling without fear. His eyes widened in recognition. "Shit! That's... that's Zanza!" He raised his head to meet the fearful eye of his companion and then grabbed a nearby longbow and raised it to his eyes, fingers trembling. "I'll shoot 'er right now!"

The first man panicked but had enough control to try to wrestle the arrow from his companion's grip. "We gotta' tell the boss first! If she's got Zanza on her side..." He paled. "... who knows what'll happen to us? There's too many chillun and people around if ya' miss..."

He appeared to contemplate this for a moment and wrested his pudgy chin on his equally chubby fingers. Without ceremony, he wrenched the arrow away from the first man and angrily set it in the bow. "Don't tell me my bizness, y' moron! I's way smarter than you! If I says that I'm gonna hit 'er, I'm gonna hit 'er..."

************************

She had to admit, it was pretty nice not sneaking around anymore, but Megumi had to wonder what this would do for her reputation. Walking close enough to someone close enough to touch just by turning your head was so much more different than walking close enough to touch them by two arms length away. Her father told her stories of Americans who stood this close comfortably; they had been raised that way. He would then laugh when he saw the look on their faces when he asked for a bit more room than they were giving him.

_Otou-san, what mess have you got me into now? _

It was, after all, his idea that she go into this business and become "the prettiest and best damn doctor in the area". It was the only time she'd heard her father curse so casually. Not that she regretted a moment of it; the Takani name was way too powerful to be challenged up until now. Her enemies knew she had friends in high places: Himura Battousai, Zanza, shihondai _and_ student of the Kamiya dojo, including many people she met along the way: Shinomori Aoshi, Saitoh Hajime, and that friend of Sanosuke's...

"What's the deal with Tsukioka Tsunan? He is a friend of yours, right?"

"Huh?" Sanosuke was too busy listening in on the conversations people were having as they walked past. The reactions almost made him laugh, ranging from "I saw this coming months ago" and "Damn, I wanted her first..." It was another one of his impressive talents attributed to his height; he had incredibly good hearing. Of course, he didn't mind any of it, but would Megumi? Would Megumi care about having her name stained with one like his?

_Of course she would. _

He moved as far away from her as possible while still concealing the handcuff. "Ah, Katsuhiro? That idiot?" Sanosuke met Megumi's eyes; she was utterly confused. "Don't worry, it's a mutual friendship. He's from the Sekihoutai. We call each other names all the time..."

Megumi smiled dreamily. " Who would have known the famous artist was so handsome?"

"Hey!" Something was wrong, definitely wrong. No, not the conversation about Katsu, but something else. Much, much worse. Sanosuke had gone far enough and been in enough fights to know that gut instinct was _always_ right. It wasn't a question of _what_, but a question of _when_. He mumbled but kept his guard up, "So you've got something for my best friend..."

She laughed. "Of course not! I was just wondering—"

_Now!! _

Sanosuke caught the projectile in midair just before it could slam into Megumi's head. His arm snatched it so quickly that he hardly believed his own speed, and apparently Megumi hadn't even noticed. He quickly scanned the street; neither had anyone else. They were all busy chattering like usual.

_ An arrow? _

"Are you listening to me?"

Sanosuke snapped the arrow with his middle and forefinger and let it fall to the ground. It took every ounce of willpower not to run towards the direction it was fired from and beat the shit out of whoever did it. This wasn't an attack on him alone; it was an attack on _his_ woman. He glared at the where the buildings met the sky and knew: They were waiting. 

They'd always be waiting.

"Sorry fox, Katsu isn't available..."

She sighed and grinned at him mischievously. "Of course not. If I were his woman, I wouldn't let go of him either."

"Who says it's a woman?"

"W-W-What?"

************************

Tae nearly fell over when she caught sight of the two, her shocked red face told them exactly what she was thinking. Megumi could see her eyes opening slightly and her lips mouthing, "It's so indecent!" The doctor groaned, was it really necessary that they stand so close? The dinner at the Akabeko went without commotion or interruption; it was so much quieter when it was just she and Sanosuke. In fact, Megumi was starting to miss Yahiko's whines, Kaoru's boiling over, and Kenshin's mediating.

_ All is going according to plan..._

The little waitress girl, Tsubame was it? Yes, she wouldn't stop blushing the entire time when she was serving them. To conceal the handcuff, they still had to sit pretty near each other, but the low table and the length of Megumi's sleeve allowed for just a few precious inches of space. Still, it wasn't enough. "Ano... d-do you want more rice, Sanosuke-san? Megumi-sensei?"

Without lifting his head up, Sanosuke murmured between his chewed food; "No, I'm not really hungry now."

It took nearly ten minutes to revive the fallen Tsubame.

Strangely enough, it didn't surprise Megumi in the slightest. This had been a day for surprises, and _now_ she found out that for the life of her, she could not eat with her left hand! She felt her own face flaming up in embarrassment as she tried again and again to fumble with the chopsticks, only to have them clatter to the table again.

_How did I manage this for over one week? _

She could feel her patience running out. Doctors were supposed to be ambidextrous: as good as one hand as they were with the other. But what was stopping this? Megumi took a deep breath and tried to concentrate again, maneuvering her fingers so they would accommodate the fallen eating utensils. They only got pushed further out of her control. All the patrons in the restaurant staring at her did not help the matter; of _course_ she knew that eating with the left was rude! She resisted the urge to stand up and scream, "I don't have a choice people! I'm currently _handcuffed_!!"

_ Of course, that wouldn't help the matter either. _

"Having trouble, Megumi?"

That did it. She threw her hand in the air and cradled her head with it. "I just don't know what to do... I feel so overwhelmed and... and..." 

Even from a mere six inches away, he could feel her shaking. Sanosuke felt awful. Here he was, eating just as free as he pleased with his hand, courtesy of the fox even! She was the one paying for the meal, or, so he thought at first. It took just one look at her frustrated face and her hair ashamedly covering her face to make him lean over and whisper, "Let's go then. We can eat later."

"But... what about the plan?" she whispered back. "I can't leave now, we haven't shown ourselves enough yet."

His smile lit up the eating area. "Either that, or I can feed you." Her horrified face was his answer. Sanosuke carefully ambled to his feet at the same time Megumi did. Before Megumi could cross over her body and reach her sleeves, Sanosuke nonchalantly dipped into his jacket pocket and threw a yen down on the table. "I've had more money this week than I know what to do with. Why do you suppose that is?"

Megumi laughed and bowed to Tae. "That's because when you're handcuffed to me, you can't gamble it away."

************************

_Raimi... be strong... _

"Master, we have the guy here who shot the arrow. Shall I send him in?"

_ ... be brave... _

He was jolted out of his memory by the soft voice of his doorman and he nodded. "Yes. Have him come."

_Don't ever lose hope. Know that I do this for love... _

After about three minutes of stammering from the fat man, Raimi raised his hand and leaned forward in his chair intently. News concerning Takani Megumi was always welcome, but this infuriated him. 

_Vang pyl! He caught the arrow. _

"Get out of mine sight. I gave orders not to interfere with attack tonight. You were to inform me when she should appear." 

The stark whiteness of the Black Shadow's eyeballs against the dark contrast of his skin made his eyes glow with an unearthly light. Coupled with his unnatural curly white hair that supposedly only belonged to demons, the poor man trembled at his certain fate. "I's sorry! I didn'a mean it! I-I thought..."

_Afval. Regverdig afval._ _ Trash, just trash. _

"You thought wrongly!" he snapped. "I don't want to hear of anyone trying to hurt that woman doctor again. We must take her alive. I _need_ her alive, not dead!" He waved his hand and reached for his weapon, an oversized boomerang. The man's eyes went even more wide open and he threw himself on the ground, shrieking like a girl for his life to be spared. He rolled his eyes, but there was still more information to be had.

"Doctor woman and Zanza. Are they still... together?" He tried to find the words for what he was looking for, but didn't know the Japanese equivalent. He made up for it by bringing his two wrists together and placing them side-by-side. "Bound? Are they... bound?"

The man looked utterly confused; the look in the Black Shadow's eyes seemed to burn a hole through him. "I dunno whatcha' mean, but..." He tried to mimic their pose and made an outline with his hand right next to him. "... they was this close ta' each other..." 

He nodded his head. 

_So they are still together. Her takeover might be a little harder than I thought... _

"Fine, go. Before I change mind."

_Moordenaar_. _ Even though it is my order to kill the woman..._

The chubby man got to his feet, tears shining in his eyes, obviously thankful that his life had been spared. "T'ank you! T'ank you so much, Mister Raimi!" He scampered out and left the man perched on top of his wooden stool, eyes burning with determination and concentration. 

_ ... I can't bring myself to do it._

Outside, the fat man almost kissed the ground. Those who came in contact with the Black Shadow weren't likely to survive to tell about it. _The guy spoke funnily for such an accomplished hitman, but then again, everything about him was funny_, the man thought. First off, the color of his skin was darker than mud. Rumors had it that he bathed himself in the blood of his fallen victims, but it didn't look like blood to those who have seen him close up.

_That's real skin..._

************************

"Fujita-san. We've got some new evidence that shows exactly who's doing this."

"Hnn? What is it?"

"Did you know that the language that was written on the note... it's not English."

"It's not?" Saitoh was stunned, or at least, as stunned inside as possible. True, Mibu's Wolf may know a lot about the worldly happenings, but he had no idea what languages were what. He assumed that it was automatically English; the brokenness of the Japanese told him that it wasn't a native speaker, and English was the language of the outside... "What is it then?"

The second-in-command officer pushed the glasses up his nose and itched the back of his forearm. "It's Afrikaans."

_Afrikaans?! _

Saitoh didn't bother to hide his annoyance. Calm façade of Fujita Goro be damned. "Why the _hell_ did Sachi fail to tell me this?" How he hated when crucial information was conveniently left out of his knowledge. He'd have to remember to beat the hell out of his translator for forgetting... or maybe, beat the hell out of himself for forgetting to ask. 

The other man smiled. "We thought you knew."

Saitoh paused, then his mouth twitched into a smile of sincerity; looking much more like the in command character he as police chief was supposed to portray. He really was starting to like this guy; he actually had the balls to poke fun at him. "Please prepare a carriage for me. After that, you can go home to your wife and take the weekend off."

************************

"Are you positively _sure_ that you don't know of anyone who could hurt you?"

Megumi shook her head while nibbling on a rice cake. They were back at her clinic now, phase two of the plan was almost complete: wander around town and show everyone that you are out and about. She could almost hear Kenshin's voice telling her, "The more you show yourselves, the more we can lure whoever's doing it out into the open." Of course, she didn't feel the least bit threatened at any point; she was there with _him_. "No, no idea."

Sanosuke snatched a rice cake from the pan near the divan and held it up to his mouth, but didn't eat it. He was still lost in thought. "We have to brainstorm then. It has to be someone you know, or someone related to someone you know, or..."

"He could be a maniac who feels endangered by my career," she stated dryly. "Unfortunately, there's always one of those around."

The gangster nodded and chewed thoughtfully. "I don't see why someone would go through so much trouble just to hurt you. It's like... it's like they're just playing with our minds." Megumi rested for a moment, then shifted and looked outside. "I think it's time we go out again for another round."

************************

I didn't know who had done it, but I knew why. The root of all evil: money. 

_I wish I was rich... then I could help my people... _

The dry Saharan winds and blistering days had thoroughly destroyed my village. They were already struggling with finding food, and no matter how often I would pray for life giving rain, it never came. No matter how fast or furiously I would dance to appease the gods, not a drop came.

By and by, I watched his elders and friends get thinner and thinner. Bones of their ribs enunciated through their translucent black skin and jaundice yellowing their once clear eyes. Everywhere, nothing but fatigue and devastation from disease. 

The blow to me came from my mother, when one day, overcome by hunger, she slaughtered my pet elephant without so much as a word to me. She cooked it, then served it to my family of eight brothers and sisters. I didn't even know until the flesh was in my mouth and I was sighing contentedly. Not until I called for my beloved Vaalderig to share in the celebration did I realize that he _was_ already at the celebration.

I was the last in a series of children that my mother had given birth to, and she had always felt hostile towards me. She had reached what they call "the final river" just after I was born. Her husband, my father, declared to the tribe that he would no longer be with a wife who could no longer bear him children and gladly took a younger, much fresher woman to be his second wife. I always had the distinct impression that she blamed me for her husband leaving; even in his adolescent mind he saw the heated stares that she gave. It was an unfounded hatred, but the woman was nearly at her wits end and needed to lash out at someone to stay healthy. Better me who can defend myself than one of my sisters...

Growing up was a relatively easy task for me. I did my best to carry my load just like my other brothers and sisters, and that included going to the far ends of the land to find firewood, learning to use a bow and arrow to hunt what little prey wandered around, and lifting earthen pots just to get stronger. Sometimes, a giant animal would keel over from the extreme desert heat, and I would be all alone on one of his scavenging hunts. I would then be responsible for dragging the carcass all the way back to my tribe, no matter how much it weighed comparative to my own seven year old body. The consequences for letting valuable meat go weighed more on the mind than on our bellies. Many a night had I spent lying awake and watching my sisters cry from hunger and knowing that I could have done something more.

_ If I'd stay out just one hour more... something has to come... _

Out until the break of dawn and not catching or finding a thing, those would be the worst. As the youngest, I wasn't really expected to find or kill anything, but I could compete with my older brothers on deadly accuracy. Sometimes, I couldn't even haul back the beast I had killed and would sprint barefoot over the scorching sand to the tribe to enlist the help of one of my brothers. How I loved the look on his sisters' faces when the smell of meat would waft through our tiny hut. It made me feel useful.

Even loved.

_It was even better when Mother gave me that look... _

My mother would temporarily let go of her unspoken grudge against me and actually smile. But she never spoke. She hadn't spoken since Father had left her alone. While the siblings slept in one room, Mother took the other half and sometimes let one child sleep with her. It wasn't really a room, more of a partition of our hut. It was very crowded having eight sleep on one side, but not that it mattered. We were so skeleton like that they didn't take up much room anyways. I never got that honor except when I brought home food. At that point, while my family was fast asleep, I would stretch my limbs, knowing by the morning light, I'd have to do it all again just for that privilege.

_ Occasionally, Mother would even cry... _

One time, I found a small blob of _something_ struggling in the desert. When I came closer, I found it was a baby elephant: bloody and battered. Most likely, the hyenas had not discovered it yet and it was almost killed the previous night. But the vultures were picking at it, desperate to rip off a small piece of flesh. The elephant threw its head back and moaned, one of the most pitiful sounds I had ever heard. It was a last ditch attempt to save its rapidly ebbing life, and I answered the call. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but something stirred inside me... like I shouldn't let the young and helpless suffer like this. 

I ran and chased all the birds away from the animal and expertly held up my bow, challenging any to come near and hurt it more. Once I looked over the elephant, I saw two of the saddest brown eyes ever. I momentarily thought to kill it and put it out of its misery, but something in those eyes told me otherwise. My hand fell back from my quiver. It gave a small whinny of gratitude, and then feebly curled its trunk around my leg. 

Despite the little roar in my stomach, I couldn't bring myself to kill the hapless creature. I instead took it as a pet and named it Vaalderig, the fat one. I staggered under the elephant's weight when I carried it back, but wouldn't let any of the villagers touch it to cook. All the jeers I suffered! First Brother even said, "You choose a beast over your family." However, my sisters didn't seem to care; they were too busy swooning over the little animal.

When Mother saw, I was fully expecting a whipping for being so impudent. On top of that, she would probably kill the elephant anyways. Much to my relief and First Brother's shock, she actually smiled again and patted my head. The whole evening when my sisters were bandaging the elephant, my brothers were on one side glaring at me. I didn't miss the pointed insults they whispered among themselves, and they intensified when his mother announced that I was to sleep in her room tonight. This evoked the scorn and contempt of Second Brother; he was the one who actually brought food home for tonight. Second Brother stormed out of the room and into the night without so much as a word. 

First Sister got up and ran out with Second Brother, the two had always had a special bond between them because they were closest in age. Just like the same bond that Fourth Sister and I shared. She was the last sister to be born in our family, only a year older than I. She was always the one I could talk to and share all my secrets, including the obvious annoyance of Mother. She would nod; she also knew what it was like to be treated with contempt from Mother. 

Fourth Sister was the last in a long line of daughters, and they had it even worse than I did. It was First Brother, then First Sister and Second Brother, then Third Brother, then Second, Third, and Fourth Sister, and lastly, me. Fourth Brother. Females in are tribe were generally considered useless, and I'd see mothers often beat their daughters for not being useful enough. Thank God that all that hostility was directed at me and not at any of my sisters. Not that my Mother ever raised her hand in anger, she had an aura that demanded respect. No one dared to talk back. "We eat our meat without grudging" as the old proverb says.

Women can't find food, work outside, or hunt. They were considered worthless, by the males, and sadly, even by themselves. All they were good for was bearing children. I didn't agree with this, but who cares about an eight year old's opinion?

No one.

Males are very valuable in our tribe, the more sons you had, the more power you had. I think Father was disappointed at all the females Mother had, and the final blow was Fourth Sister. From what First Sister tells me, Mother begged for one more chance to bear him a son and do honor to the family. Father consented, and seven months later, I was born. Although my birth should have been cause for celebration, a son was finally born, but then Mother reached "the final river". It was then that Father left, when I was still a child. And thus, I became the target of hatred.

Fourth Sister says that the "red rivers" that flow inside a woman determines whether or not children can be borne. At that time, I was thirteen and she was fourteen. She had just received her "first river", and God, I thought she was going to die. It was commonplace to see females getting their rivers, but it was quite another to see my sister getting her very first one. She ran into the desert after me at about sunrise, barefoot, and tearily explained to me that she had gotten it. There was no explanation needed, the evidence and her blood stained skirt was all too frightening.

"Did you tell Mother yet?" I asked her.

She shook her head, tears falling from her eyes. "I don't want to get married Raimi! You can't let them take me!!" She desperately clung to me and sobbed. "I don't want to die..."

I tried to be the voice of reason, but she was inconsolable. "Now, you're not going to die Desde. It only means that you can bear children..." My voice may have been light and cheery, but I _knew_ the cause of her suffering. She didn't want to be married off to a member of our tribe. When a woman gets her first river, she is to be given to a man so they can make children. We've talked about this before, but I guess I was denying that it would ever come. How foolish I was. First, Second, and Third Sister and already been married off, second and third wives to men much older than them. In the case of Second Sister, her husband was forty-seven. She was fifteen.

"... I don't... want to... die..."

First and Second Sister were model daughters, they ate their meat well. Third Sister however, although she did everything asked of her, when she got her first river, she defiantly announced that she would marry no man. This of course, was lunacy on her part. The only time I've ever seen Mother strike in anger was on Third Sister. Third Sister ranted and screamed, but what she was doing only delayed the inevitable. She was married to a relatively young man of thirty while she was fourteen. 

But the torment didn't stop there. She caused such a ruckus and was even rumored to scratch her husband's face during the lovemaking process: on purpose. After two months, the husband had all he could stand and sent Third Sister back to Mother. The two women fought and yelled, the entire house shook with the sound of their voices. Fourth Sister crawled into my arms and we both listened to the heated exchange. We couldn't help it, it was nighttime, and we couldn't escape from it.

Their shouts continued right into the morning. Fourth Sister somehow fell asleep and was shaking in my embrace. She had always been the sensitive one. I stayed awake the whole time and through the blanket that divided our rooms, I saw an arm lashing out and hitting Third Sister. She fell to the ground, then got up and walked out of the hut. I found out the next day from Third Brother that Mother had disowned Third Sister.

Disownment! God, this was serious. She was no longer part of the family. It seemed that that night had been the last time anyone had seen or heard from Third Sister. She left, gallantly as she came, a whisper of the wind on our lives. To our family, everyone acted like it was nothing. Maybe that's how I should have acted. Maybe, it would have taken away some of the pain, pain I saw in Fourth Sister's eyes.

The pain I felt when I searched my heart.

Third Sister was gone.

_How I wished that I could have said goodbye. _

************************

Raimi waited, shrouded in shadows. He knew that they would come. The couple looked so happy, and he found a small part of him wondering why he was attracted to the woman as he was. The two always had a skirmish of wit between them whenever they were around each other, to all other eyes; it appeared that they hated each other.

_ You people and your strange ways... _

The more Raimi thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. It was obvious to him that they loved each other underneath all those jeers, but that's what confused him the most. 

_To get a person to like you... you must argue with them? _

_ Then how come... it didn't work for Third Sister? _

"... I don't want to die... Raimi, don't let them take me... God, don't let them take me..."

The answer to Fourth Sister's prayers came in a very unlikely form, both a blessing and a curse. Both God and the Devil came in the name of a Japanese politician called Washimoto Hoshino. A blessing because Fourth Sister didn't have to marry, a curse because her only male influence, the Fourth Brother, would be taken away from her.

Raimi.

He snapped out of his memories and assumed his position, making especially sure his cloak covered all of his face. People here normally didn't like it when he showed his skin in public, they'd whisper among themselves just like his brothers used to. Although he could only catch bits and pieces of what they were saying, from the tone, it sounded derogatory. Not that Raimi really cared about their opinions though, what they said was among their business. After a while though, it got really repetitive and rather than draw attention, he'd cover himself.

_People here are so superficial... _

"Not that it will matter anyways, it's dark." He rubbed two fingers against his boomerang to get some crusted junk off the handle. Whenever possible, he'd try to speak in his native tongue of Afrikaans instead of trying to learn Japanese. It confounded him how the people here would have three different ways of writing the same thing.

He was alerted to a lone pair walking down the dirt road; Raimi with his sharp eyes and sense of smell knew at once that it was them. The woman doctor and Zanza. They both had their own distinctive smell, and the smell of the woman was one that Raimi had grown to recognize and love. He'd been brought up around that smell, and she only wore it once in a blue moon. It was a thing called "perfume", how they could capture the essence of something and put it in a bottle always fascinated Raimi. It was the smell of sandalwood. Most other times she'd wear another smell that was pervasive here in Japan, but never in the Sahara. It must have been some sort of flower...

_ I think that's the only thing that stopped me from killing you on first sight..._

They say that smell is a powerful key to unlocking memories, and regrettably so to Raimi's eyes. It made him feel weak that a simple thing like killing could be blocked in his mind by something as insignificant as scent. It made him even madder that it was this scent that caused him to lose all direction and even _fall in love_ with the woman. Many nights he'd toyed with the notion that she would love him back as much as he did her, even when he was watching her while she slept. Many nights he'd done that, breathing in her smell while Megumi (her name as he understood it) would be unsuspecting and dreaming.

_ I would frighten her._

She seemed to be very open minded, but just how open? Many a time had Raimi been called a monster because of his skin, but would she really care about that? Jealousy flared when the couple he had been intently observing paused by the river; the gangster Zanza looking down into Megumi's eyes. The taller man's fingers hooked under her chin and was leaning in closer for what appeared to be a kiss. Their silhouettes were outlined against the half moon, casting a generous amount of light over the water. It may as well have been moonless, so dark was his rage. 

His fingers curled around his boomerang tighter, why love a monster when she could love Zanza? The fact that he had no chance with her made her that much more challenging to win for himself. With deadly accuracy, he hurled his projectile at the couple, aiming to hit only the gangster. After all, he was good enough to do that with his eyes closed; their scent would tell exactly how they were standing. As the boomerang whizzed towards them, he could see that they didn't even notice. They were too busy drowning themselves in each others' eyes.

_It will be a painless death for Zanza. A death, but that at least I can give her. He doesn't even know it's coming. Bymekaar, Desde... just wait a moment longer..._


	6. Chapter Six

Raimi's sister is named Desde because of the Shakespearian play Othello. If you remember, Desdemona is the Moorish Othello's beautiful wife. They both are tragic figures whose lives were dominated by men. Plus, I love Shakespeare and this is somewhat of a tribute to him. It's heart wrenching (at least I think so), so be prepared.

Thanks to Shiari for "beta reding" for me ^_^

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**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapter Six**_  
_By: Karina Kineshi

"Megumi?"

"What?"

The night air was just a little chillier than he had predicted, and too windy to be walking around without some sort of jacket. It was the kind of wind that howled in your ears and sounded a lot more menacing than it actually was. It made his hair fly back from his neck and make the skin in that area feel like ice.

_Say something! _

"Um... are you cold?" It was weak, but dammit, it was something. Sanosuke decided that now would probably be the best time to try to get her to talk. As odd as circumstances were, he could always get her to start talking about what was on her mind. He attributed it to the fact that they had to breathe the same air for so long; it was like he knew exactly what she was going to say next. However...

"No. Not cold. You?"

_Something is wrong with her. _

Sanosuke looked down at Megumi and couldn't help but admire her beauty. The way the light was reflecting on the water bounced off her hair and bathed her face in an ethereal glow. The halo made her look almost sacred. He didn't realize he'd been watching her so long until Megumi turned and look at him, but didn't say a word. Sanosuke stammered, "No, not cold. Sorry for asking."

She didn't respond to this, but instead turned her head and looked straight. He became increasingly aware that she was standing as far away from him as possible without making it obviously blatant. He grudgingly admitted he may be a little bit dense about other things (Saitoh be damned), but when it came to subtle, he was the master at picking up cues.

"Sanosuke?"

Her quiet mention of his name nearly made him jump out of his skin. The wind suddenly died and Sanosuke felt sweat beading on the back of his neck. He didn't like that tone of voice; it meant that something bad was going to happen. It was, as he jokingly called it, her "serious voice".

"Even though you don't say anything... I know you're paying attention to me." 

Sanosuke was prepared for something totally different, something along the lines of "How can you be so stupid?" Instead, he scrapped the automatic response to an inevitable crack at his intelligence and settled for "Huh?"

Megumi didn't respond, but instead kept on walking. Sanosuke could almost swear he saw a smile slink over her face, but the next instant it was a frown. It might not have even existed in the first place. "Do you think..." she trailed off.

A silence even longer than the first settled over the two. Sanosuke suddenly became acutely aware of all of the surroundings, not so much who might be out there, but all the stimulations of his senses. The smell of the river next to which they were walking was permanently engrained in his mind as he waited for Megumi to finish. The wind even seemed to stand still in time, leaving the reflection of the brilliant white moon unsplintered in the water.

When Megumi said nothing, he laughed a little bit, something that made Megumi look up at him with questioning eyes. "Well, I _do_ think every once in a while..."

"Do you actually think that this will ever work between us?" she asked quietly. "I mean, you and I."

That caught him off guard. He didn't expect something like _that_ in a million years. "Um..." He couldn't think of an answer. Nor did he want to. In spite of what he had previously believed about her before this episode, it all came crashing down ever since Saitoh came over that fateful day. He had seen her _real_ personality; underneath that smug veneer was nothing but a scared woman. She just wanted to be truly loved by someone.

So did he.

"What do you mean?"

Megumi shook her head. "You know me too well. You _know_ what I mean, so why do you ask?"

"You mean, what about us?" Underneath it all, Sanosuke was relieved. They had been skirting around the true issue ever since the first night they had slept together. Well, at least slept on the same futon together. He was too scared of rejection to bring it up around her. Sanosuke was glad she at least had that much more courage than him in _that_ arena... but he'd never thought it would begin like this...

"It's never going to happen between you and I. You do know that, right?" Megumi said it without the slightest hint of emotion. Maybe that's why Sanosuke felt like his heart was collapsing inside. "It's never going to work," she repeated.

He couldn't bear it. Just hearing the words coming out of her mouth made him ache. "But... we have something Megumi..." he whispered. Sanosuke couldn't raise his voice to its normal level for fear of what he would say or what would happen.

Megumi turned her head and looked at the water, away from Sanosuke's inquiring eyes. "What do we have Sanosuke? The only thing we have in common is this handcuff." She spun around and waved her hand in front of her stomach. "The only thing between you and I... is just air."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Sanosuke didn't just feel hurt; he felt insulted. He had gone through so much to make her exactly where he wanted her. All those little glances he'd received, everything she has said, all the things she had implied, destroyed in one moment. He grabbed her shoulders with both hands in an attempt to get her to look at him, not caring about the handcuff and how it made her arm raise to just under her collarbone. She averted her eyes. "Tell me."

Megumi voice was so low he could barely hear it. "No, you tell me. I want to hear it come out of your mouth first." The wind started to pick up again.

"You can't deny that we have something between us. I stopped doing that a long time ago," he said. She looked up at him, but even in the moonlight he could see that there was still no emotion in those eyes. "Don't you... feel it?"

Her next reaction caught him totally off guard. She slapped him. "Of course I feel it, you idiot! Why do you think I brought it up?" 

Numbly, Sanosuke raised a hand to his cheek. It didn't hurt, but it was still forceful enough that Sanosuke could see white flashes of light in his right eyeball. She instantly looked horrified and tried to touch his cheek, but he jerked his shoulders away to get out of her reach. "Why are you not even going to give us a chance? You're going to end us here and now?"

"Sanosuke..." Megumi put a hand over her heart. "We never began anything to end."

_Don't tell me this doesn't hurt me as much as it does you. You're dying inside, just like me. _

Megumi remained stoic as ever. "You're right, it does hurt me. I... I really did love you, you know. But I'm not dying as you say. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

_I said that out loud? _

He moved around and tried to put his arm on her shoulder, but she had jerked it away just as he had earlier. "Why do you have to make things so difficult, Megumi? Why do you think everything has to be painful?"

"Because... because it is," was her pitiful reply.

Sanosuke's eyes narrowed. "You're right. I do know you too well. There's something else here, isn't there Megumi?" 

She whirled around. Sanosuke thought she was going to strike him again, but instead she had tears in her eyes. He casually reached up and wiped away a tear with his finger. Megumi flinched, but made no move to stop him. She managed to smile. "You're right. For once."

"Hey!" He laughed, one with genuine humor in it. He'd found that the happiest moments were when he got Megumi to give him a smile. He didn't mind the humor being at his expense, just as long as she was happy...

*******************

"You stupid idiot..." Of course, Megumi said this lovingly and with all honesty at the same time. It amazed her that someone can be so smart in matters while being totally clueless in others.

_Just like Ken-san... _

Instead of telling Sanosuke what was on her mind, she resumed walking again. Of course, Sanosuke had no choice but to follow her. "I'm glad that one of us finally decided to bring this up, because sooner or later..."

"... someone would have gotten hurt," Sanosuke finished. "And I was glad it was you." He paused and itched his head apologetically. "I'm too scared to admit it, but I'm a wimp when it comes to something like this."

Megumi smiled. "I've noticed something odd." When she saw that she had Sanosuke's undivided attention, she continued. "We haven't been acting like ourselves lately."

"That's because you don't know the true me."

"Didn't. Not don't. I do know now." Megumi corrected. Sanosuke grinned, but Megumi was still serious. They were getting off topic now, and since she was the one who started it, she would have to be the one who finished it. "What I said earlier is true, you know. We can never be together. As much as I want to be..."

"Why can't this work? You and I both know... well... that it's real."

Megumi raised her feet back and nonchalantly kicked a pebble in the road. She watched it skitter across the ground and disappear into the high grass. "Like you said before, there's a fine line between lust and love."

Sanosuke stopped walking. He took her shoulders again with the same forceful grip. His face being so close to hers rendered her speechless. He smirked. "You see that Megumi?"

"See what?" she exhaled quietly.

He flicked some bangs out of his face and continued to stare into her eyes. Even in the moonlight, she could still see the warmth and caring. God, how she loved those eyes. "You can't breathe when I look at you either. That's how I know you don't just want me for my body. It can't be lust."

Megumi looked away mournfully. "How do I know that it's not lust when you look at me? When anyone looks at me?"

Sanosuke instantly dropped his hands and wrung his arms in the air, a look of total mock horror on his face. "What?! Are you joking?!" The outburst was so sudden that Megumi was stunned speechless. "I mean... look at you! Not only are you the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life, you're smart, have manners, and you know just what to say when to say it!" 

Megumi dropped her eyes to the ground again. "Thanks for bolstering my self confidence Sanosuke, but I'm afraid that you have to admit... it's true."

"What? The fact that we will never work?"

She nodded.

"Never. I'll never admit defeat."

Megumi scowled. "Sanosuke, you're such a... a jerk! Don't you realize what this will do for us? What this will do _to_ us? I can feel myself getting more and more attached to you because the more time I spend with you..."

"... the more I want to find out about you..." Maybe it was a side effect of spending so much time together, but the finishing of sentences was something that they had automatically picked up.

_We're so in tune with each other we know what the other's going to say... _

To both Megumi's delight and shock, he reached down and tucked two fingers underneath her chin and started to lean forward for a kiss. She sighed before they made contact, and specifically remembered thinking that this was definitely one time where she would _not_ pull away. "What about the townspeople? What will they think? I have a reputation to uphold." 

It felt good, being so dangerous yet trying to be careful at the same time. Knowing that they were in a very public place acting like this both excited and scared her. "Let them think what they want... you don't deserve to sacrifice your happiness for theirs..." Sanosuke started dropping little kisses all along her jawline and neck, taking especial care, she noted, not to touch her lips. She smiled when she remembered telling him something once about when she finds the man she truly loves, only then will her lips be given to him. Megumi also laughingly added that every time Kanryuu tried to kiss her there she would bite him. He would run out of the room screaming for Aoshi to beat her into submission: something the Oniwa Banshuu leader never did.

Sanosuke suddenly stopped touching her skin, but he was so close to it that he might as well have kept on going. His breath rasped the skin near her ear as she breathlessly waited for what he had to say.

_This feels too right to be wrong..._

He straightened himself up to his full height, eyes and hands never leaving her face. At once, a look of sadness crossed over his eyes and Megumi apologetically put a hand over her mouth. Why was it that every time she thought something, it would always come out loud? Sanosuke looked disgusted at himself. "You're right. This will never work." Megumi felt her heart shattering as her hand dropped limply to her side. It hurt, it really did.

_Was this how you felt? _

"I know... I can't ever compare to your dead husband. I mean, look at me, and then... look at you." Megumi winced, but no sound came out of her mouth. The wind died and all time stood still again. The last of the late night sleepers extinguished their lanterns and cast a mysterious shadow over the street. The way the light highlighted some areas of Sanosuke face and receded the rest in shadow made him look equally depressed. He had said all that needed to be said.

Megumi found her voice. "So, does that mean that this big handcuff thing... it's all just a joke, isn't it?" Sanosuke looked up at her, but her voice kept on rising. "After you are released from me, we're just going to pretend that nothing ever happened. Is that right?"

Sanosuke never got a chance to answer. There was a whirring sound, a crack, and Sanosuke's eyes rolled into the back of his head. The next thing she knew, he slumped forward and collapsed on top of her. Being totally unprepared for the dead weight, Megumi crumpled to the ground holding him in her arms. "My God, Sanosuke! What's wrong?!" At first, she thought that it was just an act to get her to hold him, but when she saw a dark liquid trickling from a wound in the side of his temple...

_It's blood! _

By now, the wind was screeching even louder in her ears, magnified ten fold by the panic and fear escalating in her mind. She was too stunned to cry, besides, the only instinct in her mind was to stop the bleeding, and fast. That definitely couldn't be done with blurry eyes. Megumi was surprised at how incredibly calm his face looked despite the blood in flowing down the corner of his mouth. His normally glossy hair was matted and sticky with the foul red liquid.

_A concussion! Where do I even begin? _

Being in the middle of a knoll next to an unconscious man who was bound to her with a handcuff wasn't exactly the best position she'd ever been in before. If the hit had been hard enough, it could have pushed a fragment of his skull into his brain and Sanosuke could be dead right now. To her horror she noted that he was neither breathing nor making any sign of consciousness. The blood was already starting to congeal on the wound, but no blood came gushing out despite the severity. Frantically, Megumi checked for his pulse.

Nothing.

_It's too fast! How did this happen? Why did this happen? _

She started to pathetically tug at his arm in a futile attempt to get him to wake up. "You have to... Sanosuke, you can't leave me here... please don't die, I don't want you to die... God, don't take him..." Megumi tried to watch the familiar rise and fall of his chest for breathing, just as she had done countless nights before while he was sleeping. 

It was still.

_That's not ... possible! He can't die so quickly, not now! _

She waited for what seemed like an eternity, two fingers pressed to the side of his neck in a vain effort to find his pulse. The fact that her own fingers were shaking too much didn't concern her in the slightest. To her terror, there was no subtle movement her fingers could detect. There was no blood running through his arteries. If the part of the brain that control involuntary activities like the cerebellum was damaged, he's...

Megumi couldn't stop herself any longer. With no supplies, no chances of making it back to the clinic, and no hope. "Why does... everyone I love... have to get hurt because of me?" She tenderly brushed his bangs out to see his face. There was no movement that betrayed any sign of life. There was only one alternative left.

She started to cry.

*******************

That really hurt. Watching the doctor woman cradle her love like that seared him to his heart. Or what remained of it. His eagle eyes told him the whole story; it was true, she really did love the man. Her water stained cheeks made that perfectly clear. To his dismay the boomerang didn't clearly slice off his head as he had been aiming, but instead the dull handle had been the thing that struck him. Raimi shrugged; no man could ever withstand that force. As far as the woman knew, her man was already dead.

He watched her weep just a few moments more, and something gripped his mind and shook it with a familiarity he had lost so long ago. The crying...

"God, please don't take him..."

_God, don't let them take me... _

"Please don't die, I don't want... you to die..."

_I don't want to die, save me... _

Raimi cleared his head of those painful memories and hopped out of the tree, cloak sprawling behind him like the wings of a vulture. He landed softly on the ground to the best of his ability; and saw with a wry satisfaction that the woman had not noticed. She was too busy embracing Zanza's head and crying about his injury.

_It was painless, what more can I give you? _

He started to stride over to her, weapon in one hand and hood still over his face. Raimi briefly considered hiding his boomerang behind his back and taking off his hood, but he didn't want to frighten the woman. So he opted for keeping it in full sight and his face covered. At least then she would know that he meant business.

Raimi shivered at his thoughts. He sounded so cold... what would Desde think of him now? He didn't try to hide the sounds of his footsteps now. Closer and closer he marched to her, and suddenly her crying had ceased. Raimi got to exactly where he wanted to be: directly in front of the fallen body but four yards away. Megumi slowly and painfully raised her head, her eyes gleaming in the moonlight. It appeared for one eternity that she had ceased breathing as well.

Finally, their eyes connected. He knew that she could not see his face from in the shadows but he could see hers. Raimi outstretched his hand, a gesture to help the woman up. Her eyes were wide open with fear and something that he knew all too well.

Hatred.

However, it looked like fear was the winning emotion. In one fluid motion, the woman ambled to her feet. She wiped away her tears with her sleeve and glared at his hand. In a voice dripping with loathing, she spoke, "Did you do this?"

He didn't respond, but instead shook his hand more, silently pleading with her to take it. Raimi viewed her hesitance as a denial, and that hurt much more than anything she could have said to him. Then she did something totally unexpected, or maybe, so expected that he didn't prepare for it. Megumi slapped his hand away and shot daggers at his face. "You... you sick, twisted bastard!"

Before he could react, she angrily started to drag the limp body of Zanza away, obviously straining under the weight. She grabbed the handcuff links with both hands and started to pull. Raimi stepped closer, but Megumi merely kicked in his direction and growled, "Stay the hell away..." Her feet just barely made contact with his shins.

_Not like this. Not like this. _

It became clear to him now: she was dragging him towards the river. Raimi instantly knew what she did, if he was alive somehow, the water would revive him. Plus, if it just so happened that he was dead, the swift current would be an easy escape from him. Raimi admired her ability to think so clearly in a time of panic. Her breathing was becoming labored and growing louder with each step closer to the river. She was repeating something over and over again through her choked sobs, as if the mantra gave her strength.

"I won't let you die... I won't let you die... I won't let you die..."

It pained him to see her like this. Her hair was whipping around her face because of sudden cold gusts of wind and she was getting closer and closer to the river. It had to be freezing; if Zanza wasn't already dead the water's frigidity would surely kill him.

_She's actually going to do it! _

Megumi's foot sank into the mud just beyond the shoreline and visibly shivered. Her skin was already turning blue from the bitter chill in the air. As much as he would be affected by the wind, coming from somewhere as arid as the Sahara, he found himself wishing he could be warm again. Not only warm in the physical sense... but also emotionally...

Raimi decided in a split second that the charade had gone on long enough. She was already up to her knees in the water and shaking like an autumn leaf. She gently maneuvered Zanza so that his head was completely out of the water. Bracing herself for the iciness, she knelt down in the water and hooked her arms left arm around his waist, still pulling him towards the center of the river. "Just a little farther... just a little farther... just a little—"

Using the giant weapon in his hand, he turned the bladed edge backward and struck her with the dull side of the boomerang. Of course, it wasn't hard enough to draw blood, but certainly enough to knock her unconscious. Her head fell forward and landed on the gangster's shoulder, arms still gripped around his midsection. Her face looked almost tranquil next to Zanza's, the same face that he had watched countless nights in his sleep.

Finally, she is mine.

_The woman with the face of an angel and the manner of my sister. _

Raimi raised his face to the sky, only to find that the moon had become partially obscured by a dark black cloud. He looked at the woman, then at his own hands. He clenched them into a fist and made a silent vow.

_I won't turn you in to him. I cannot, nor will not, do it. _

He may have harbored some intense jealousy towards the man that captured this woman's heart, but he certainly was no monster. He did not strike the chain in between the handcuff to sever it and rip the two away from each other. Raimi had planned on cutting the link and throwing the man's body into the river where he wouldn't be found, but decided against it. He needed a proper burial. It's the least I can do for _her_. Effortlessly, he took the two in his arms and hoisted them both onto his back. Once he was sure that she would be comfortable, he crouched and sprung into the air, dancing nimbly on the rooftops back to his lair.

Somewhere, hiding behind a doorway, a boy gripped his shinai so tightly his knuckles started to hurt. "I have to tell Katsu," he declared as he ran as fast as he could back to the dojo.

*******************

_So... this is death, right? _

Sanosuke sat up and rubbed his head, feeling his fingers become nearly held together by the intense bonding of the blood. He couldn't open his eyes but it seemed as if he could still see everything going on around him. There was no pain whatsoever; not even the usual throbbing of his right fist was present. 

_Yeah, I'm dead. It's painless. _

As he saw it, he was in a dark room with no source of light except for an old brass lantern hanging in midair. A voice from everywhere started to resound. "No, on the contrary, you're not." Sanosuke squinted and saw a gorgeous woman holding this lantern. Her long, jet-black hair flowed down her back, rippling like waves in a pond... "However, you can be."

_What... what do you mean? _

"It is not your time to go yet. You still have places to see... loved ones to return to." Her mouth never moved although she was speaking. Sanosuke thought that it would be proper to ask who she was but couldn't think of anything else to say other than "Who the hell are you?"

"Don't you have loved ones?" she asked.

Sanosuke sighed sadly. _I have no loved ones. I thought I did, but I don't. _

The woman didn't smile. "I am offering you the easy way out with death." She shook the lantern a bit. He merely stared at it like an entranced moth. "Or... you can return. The choice is yours."

_I have nothing to return for. _

"If you truly believe that, then follow me. I can promise you heaven."

_Heaven? Sorry, no one can give me heaven except Megumi. _

The woman kept her dark gaze on Sanosuke just a moment longer before walking away, lantern bobbing in the abyss. "Then go. She is waiting for you." A brilliant flash of red light and a sound like a gunshot in his ear made Sanosuke clutch his head in pain. The last thing he remembered was Sagara smiling down at him.

_Sagara-taichou! _

"Well done, Sanosuke..." he said. "I'm proud of you..."

And all became a blinding mess of pain and light. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Notes: You may recognize the long, black haired woman from my fic "They Say Cameras Are Only Good For Pictures". If you haven't read it, you might be just a tad lost. It might make that little bit make more sense if you read that too ^_^ I love tying all my fics together...

I wouldn't be a very good SxM writer if I killed one of the main coupling, ne? However, I want to start a new policy. If you are a responsible reader and do comment, I want you to do two things in that comment: give me something good I do and something bad that I do. Not only do I want to know what my strong points are, I want to know what I must work on. Reviews that say "Wow! Good!" are not regarded in my mind because I don't know _what_ is good. I am only human, meaning I have mistakes to fix. If someone points those out, I'll be that much better. People are so afraid to give true literary criticism, so I'm going to start a trend and openly _ask_ for it. If it's something as small as a spelling error or comma, I don't care. As long as you write it, I'll love you ^_^

Keep on writing!


	7. Chapter Seven

Katsu and Saitoh deserve some action, dammit! Here's my response to the low air time that the two coolest "bad guys" of the series received. Katsu and Saitoh supporters unite! 

*looks over reviews* Oh my, if the worst you have to give me is "taking too long to update", then I must be better off than I thought! *laughs* Thank you for being so incredibly nice, your reviews really are making me update faster =) 

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**The Handcuff Chronicles-- Chapter Seven**_  
_By: Karina Kineshi

"Ahou. What kind of trouble has that idiot gotten himself into now?" Saitoh Hajime casually followed Yahiko through the streets of Tokyo, sliding into the shadows when needed or when the boy would suspect something amiss.

_Che. Battousai needs to train you more, brat. _

Even a lesser swordsman would detect something like that. _Or..._ he smirked and stepped on his cigarette. "Maybe I'm just that good." Yahiko barreled into the home of Tsukioka Katsuhiro and slammed open the shoji. Saitoh tilted his head to try to hear what the boy was saying. Through their silhouettes shining onto the dirt street, he could recognize exactly what they were talking about. 

_No doubt the kid saw something pertaining to Takani and that idiot. _

It had to be that. In fact, Saitoh had just gone to check on the two in the clinic but they had departed. There were no lights on inside and no one sleeping within. Saitoh had quietly snuck into the house and left just the same way when he realized the two were gone. It would amaze people to know that Saitoh Hajime was watching them this way without their knowledge.

He stepped out of the darkness and assumed his position, back against a wall of a house, eyes downcast, and trademark cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Just a split second later the artist and the boy slid the door open. "Where are you going, Tsukioka?"

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Yahiko pointed his bokken at Saitoh.

He puffed on his cigarette. "Nice to see you too, kid." 

Katsu's eyes glimmered and he started to walk down the wooden stairs descending from his house to the street below. "You're supposed to be watching them, Captain. It disappoints me to know you're not doing your job."

Saitoh smugly threw his cigarette to the ground and crushed it beneath his polished leather shoes. "It disappoints me that I had to get more people involved in this case, namely a brat and an artist." He glared at Katsu. "Or should I say, bomb specialist and anti-government newspaper editorialist?"

"Who you calling brat, you dumb old cop!"

Katsu gave Saitoh a smirk worthy of... well, Saitoh. "So it's nice to know that you at least do your research."

"Why did you inform this man instead of Battousai?"

Yahiko shrugged. "I knew he lived close by. I didn't want to take the whole evening to get back to Kenshin, and I also thought that since he knew underground stuff, it might be handy to have him. I'm going back now to tell Kenshi—" A hand quicker than light shot out and grabbed Yahiko by the collar of his gi. Saitoh lifted the hapless boy into the air as he thrashed wildly. "Put me down!! What... what are you _doing_?!"

Katsu and Saitoh nodded at each other, assuming some unspoken communication. Katsu slid the door open to his apartment again and stepped out of the way. Saitoh spoke soothingly as he could while dragging Yahiko up the stairs. "Nothing against you, kid, but I can't have you in this operation. Telling Battousai would interfere with our plans. Now be a good boy and hold still." Yahiko swung his bokken like a madman and managed to get repeated hits to the Saitoh's face all while shouting furiously. However, the ex-captain of the Shinsengumi was just annoyed even more. Saitoh dropped the boy to the ground and gave him a swift knee in the stomach. Yahiko collapsed to the ground, unmoving. 

"Let's go."

Katsu closed the door and gave one last look over his shoulder. "Are you sure you didn't hurt him?"

Saitoh took another cigarette out of his pocket and tried to find a light. He shrugged, "Nah, he shouldn't be hurt too much. It will at least render him immobile until morning."

"You just didn't want Himura Kenshin to become involved." Katsu reached into his sleeves and pulled out a match for Saitoh. He struck it in between two fingers and held it out for Saitoh to take. "Battousai would only slow us down; is that your reasoning?"

Saitoh shook his head and smiled ever so slightly. "I don't want him to become involved because he is not needed. Besides... two versus a houseful of guards and an assassin is better odds than two with one decrepit, deteriorating hitokiri."

************************

_He's... he's not dead! _

After taking the two back to the mansion, he removed the handcuff from the woman doctor and set her temporarily on the ground beside where he stood. He was ready to take Zanza once more over his shoulder to bury him until he saw something that made him gasp. In disbelief, Raimi saw the ghostlike pallor of Zanza's skin slowly turn pinker with each passing moment by the candlelight. He noted the steady rise and fall of his breathing and instantly felt hatred.

_That's why I did not smell death... _

Maybe it was being born in Africa, but nearly all of his people had a special enhanced sense. Normally, it was smell. After all, scent was the thing that bonded the people together. Young and old, they all knew the smell of death just as they knew the smell of food or of the women's rivers. It was this incredible heightened sense that allowed him to be such a good hunter. He could smell just exactly what the animal was thinking and what its emotions were by the slight pheromones it gave off. It gave Raimi a valuable insight into what their next actions were.

Zanza wasn't moving. He may have been alive and breathing, but it didn't look like he was going to wake up. Third Sister always called this phenomenon "The Black Sleep". 'It was a nightmare from which the dreamer would never awake,' said Third Sister. He had only seen it in animals, but just from the way Zanza breathed Raimi knew at once that humans can suffer from it too.

_I should kill him right now. _

He turned his head to look over at his prize on the floor. Unlike Zanza, Megumi was shivering in her clothing, her damp hair splayed over the cobblestone floor like a black mesh.

_She could die too. _

Without thinking, Raimi bent over and hoisted the woman over one shoulder. Her icy kimono against his neck made him shiver as well. He chose to let Zanza live: if he had seen correctly with all those animals, they died within so long anyways. Besides, if Megumi would not cooperate, there would always be that threatening factor. He could use the gangster as bait.

After sawing through Megumi's part of handcuff, he took her to the only room with a fireplace perpetually burning and gently set her down on a couch. Dragging that piece of furniture so that it was in front of the warmth took some effort across the carpet, but Raimi had his mind on more important matters. When he had cut off the handcuff on her right wrist, the back and forth motion made the saw almost impossible to control. Megumi escaped unharmed except for a thin vertical slash on the inside of her palm. It wasn't bleeding much, but it was still enough to call attention to. Raimi also discerned a red ring encircling her wrist, no doubt from the chafing of the cumbersome manacle.

_Must help her..._

Throwing open a cupboard door, he fumbled for all the needed supplies. He came up with a heavy white sheet he could use to change her clothing into, a huge bear skin rug to cover her, and some medical supplies. Her breathing was becoming shallow and her skin was even paler than the hair on top of his head. The only thing that showed color was the red paint on her lips, and Raimi wondered if the skin underneath was blue.

A knock at the door startled him from his pathway of thoughts. Raimi chose to ignore it for the time being and unraveled a bandage. He waited for a couple more minutes, hoping the intruder would just go away. A second knock came, this time louder and more insistent. And then, an annoyed voice. "Washimoto sent me. Open the door now."

He ran to the door and flung it open. The voice asked, "You have Takani Megumi?" He was a courier sent by Washimoto Hoshino in Aizu to check up on Raimi's progress. Every week, it was someone totally different. This man was small and quirky; a weird habit he had was he would blink frequently after every sentence. Raimi found this man's mannerisms absolutely annoying, but didn't want to say anything.

Raimi nodded, but did not meet the man's eyes. He did not want to look over his shoulder for fear of giving the man her position. "... yes... I have... doctor woman." The two were standing outside the door where Megumi was held. Raimi looked to either side of him. There was not another soul in sight...

_They call themselves guards... _

The man fluttered his eyelids and grinned. "Good, I'll tell Washimoto-san at once. He shall be very pleased to—"

A sharp hit to the back of his head served the purpose of rendering the man unconscious. Raimi flexed his wrist in pain; it was so much easier to knock them out using his _buig plak_. This man could not return back to Aizu. That meant that Takani's Megumi's time would be over before it would even start. He certainly couldn't _hide_ him... For the love of the woman, there was only one other option: death. Why did it seem that he could not kill as freely as he used to? Had his heart grown soft? He could not kill Zanza, even though he had adequate reasons to. Now he couldn't bring himself to kill this man.

_No matter. _

Raimi reasoned that no one would miss such an irritating little character, dead or alive. However, the people in Aizu would probably come to Tokyo themselves. They kept remarkable tabs on all their personnel, regardless of annoyance factor. Washimoto himself would come to Tokyo to pick up the doctor anyways...

He cursed for not thinking the matter thoroughly before went ahead and hurt the man. Maybe it was a sign of protectiveness; he did not want the spoils of his war to be taken from him before he had the chance to know her. Maybe he thought that he had time. In fact, time was against him. He did not know for what purpose his master wanted this woman, but it certainly couldn't have been good. Washimoto's seeming urgency set off warning bells inside Raimi's head.

_Kwaai. _

I'm a traitor.

He refused to think about such matters further. Without another thought, he slung the body of the courier over his shoulders and opened the window in the hallway. He hopped on top of the ledge and peered below. A couple of men were roaming the premises, watching for intruders. Raimi rolled his eyes; how anyone could call those men guards was beyond him. They were just young men who didn't know the first thing about protecting a house.

Raimi seriously doubted that they even knew he had gone missing during the night.

Sighing at the ineptitude of the men that Washimoto had sent to "guard" Raimi, he stepped off the ledge of the second story floor window. The man groaned slightly when Raimi made contact with the ground, but he wasn't afraid of being caught. Even though this man was _technically_ their comrade, he was not one of the guards, and therefore would not be found until morning rounds. Once that happened, they would know by the little eagle lapel pin on his jacket sleeve and alert the people in Aizu...

Skipping across the yard and staying as low to the ground as he could, Raimi then jumped over the high stone wall. Without missing a beat, he landed on the other side and glanced around him. No one had seen anything. He shook his head again and slung the man off his shoulder. The man groaned louder this time, but a swift kick to the head stopped _that_. Raimi propped him up against a large oak tree and made it look as if he was merely sleeping on the job. He wouldn't arouse suspicion until morning when the guards saw blood on the side of the man's head.

It was far better to keep this man out in the open and center blame on everyone else but Raimi instead of making himself look suspicious. If the people in Aizu so much as suspected foul play and a disappearance, they would be in Tokyo in less than two days. This way, they wouldn't look at it as more than a simple beating this unfortunate fellow received at the hands of a madman. They would still come, but the latter could take upwards of two weeks. Especially since Raimi refused to deliver the promised package of the woman doctor, he wanted to take as much time as possible.

For her sake.

A fortnight. Two weeks. The waxing and waning of the new moon back to new moon again. That's all the time Raimi could buy Takani Megumi. He deftly sprang across the yard with the agility of a jungle cat and shimmied up to the second story window. He closed the giant library door behind him and proceeded to wrap up the woman doctor's hand more.

_I have only done this with animals... never a human... _

************************

When Katsu and Saitoh had made it to their destination, it was already morning. "Hey, are you sure this is the place?"

Katsu shrugged, stretched a hand out, and touched the iron gates. "This would be the only place that makes sense. Besides, I hear that at nighttime there are guards roaming around. Why would guards watch a dilapidated mansion for no apparent reason?"

"Good point." Saitoh leaned against the gate and peered inside. There was no one in sight, but Katsu didn't know that. "How do you know there aren't guards waiting on the other side of this wall?"

The artist grinned. "I don't. I only have a hunch that they only guard at night..."

Instead of getting a reaction typical of Saitoh --which was nothing--, his hand shot to his katana by his side. He was glaring at something directly behind Katsu. "Your hunch might be wrong, Tsukioka..." Katsu reached into his sleeves and whirled around, holding the fuse of a sakuretsu bomb between two fingers. He at once saw what Saitoh was looking at.

A guard. Hiding on the ground behind a large tree.

Katsu prepared to light the bomb but nearly dropped it in surprise when cold metal flashed in front of his face. Thankfully, the cold metal belonged to Saitoh. "Don't do anything rash. Look at him."

A closer look at the guard said that he wasn't a guard at all. Saitoh stepped closer and examined the man. The man did not make any movement whatsoever. Instead of doing his job, he appeared to be taking a morning snooze.

"He's... sleeping?"

Saitoh looked down at the man. "No, unconscious," he answered while examining the side of the man's head. "Probably some unlucky bastard who got too close to house at night and got the hell beaten out of him." He disdainfully wiped off his immaculate white gloves as if flecks of dead skin only he could see made it less white.

He turned to walk away, but Katsu lingered a moment longer. "He has a pin."

"I know."

Katsu made a sound of contempt. "What does the eagle mean?" This man spoke too often in riddles for his taste. Certainly an odd man, this Saitoh Hajime. Very stubborn. People were rarely like that in Japan anymore; so willing to fight for their beliefs even if it led to their undoing.

As if to confirm Katsu's opinion of him, he answered simply. "Washimoto Hoshino. You should know that by now, Tsukioka." He flicked a cigarette onto the ground and peered around him. "Why aren't there any people around here? There are no passersby."

"No one would ever dare come this close during the day. I mean, look around Saitoh." Indeed, he was right. Although it was already midmorning, the mansion was secluded enough away from the rest of Tokyo so that no one for miles would ever come this way. And who would want to? There was nothing to see except a crumbling house. "You should know _that_ by now, Saitoh."

"Whatever. We must watch for guards. Surprises like that one could be deadly."

"Deadly?" Katsu echoed with a grin. "I thought you could handle this."

Saitoh smirked. "I meant deadly for _them_."

Katsu reached into his sleeves again and pulled out a shiny round ball. His eyes shone. "Just in case there are guards..." he threw it up into the air. The bomb sailed over the wall and disappeared from sight. "You might want to move," Katsu suggested.

Saitoh heedlessly strode over to where Katsu was standing. Almost immediately, the section of the wall behind Saitoh exploded in a mess of dirt of rocks. Katsu nodded. "There's a back entrance to the mansion. We should be able to find Sanosuke and his woman friend inside." The two bolted all the way around the perimeter of the wall and effortlessly scaled the back wall. The artist displayed amazing, unexpected skill and cleared the wall in one jump. Saitoh, realizing that one jump was too much work for someone of his "class"; he jumped once, unsheathed his katana and drove it into the wall underneath his feet all in the same instant. He then used the blade as a springboard and it catapulted him up on top of the wall beside Katsu. The katana, purposely not driven in too well by Saitoh, recoiled and sprang forth from the wall. It flew into the air above the two heads. While having enough time to take a drag from his cigarette, the blade whizzed back down to earth as the man neatly caught it in its sheath.

The artist merely rolled his eyes at the impressive display. Sure, he was impressed, but damned as hell if he would show it. "Not bad."

Saitoh opened one eye. "Same can be said for you." Faraway shouts and footsteps could be heard and Katsu gladly saw that his little distraction worked. At least twenty guards had run outside and were busily inspecting the damage. A few others were spreading out into the plains area beside the road to look for the perpetrators. One thought to look behind the house, but unfortunately, but the time he got around on the outside, Saitoh and Katsu were already _inside_.

************************

When Megumi finally woke up, she found herself unbearably cold. Some sort of incredibly heavy sheet was pressed over the top of her, trapping her in suffocating black space. The last thing she remembered was... staring straight into the face of her killer. Now trapped with only the sound of her own breathing and unbearable sweat making her feel sticky all over, she did what any normal person would do: panic.

_I'm dead! Oh God, I'm dead!! _

Genzai-sensei told her that he imagined death to be ensnared with no way out. Judging by her current situation and the feeling of being unable to move any of her limbs, his words on death became a frightening reality.

_Don't panic! Don't give in, Megumi! _

Still panting heavily from fear, against every instinct in her body, she ignored the rushing blood in her ears obeyed the voice. Her well-tuned medical reasoning took over, even if it was just a small foothold, it was the only thing she could do to keep her sanity.

_If I am truly dead, I can't feel anything. _

She turned her head to look at her left hand that was lying across her stomach. Slowly, the fingers curled and uncurled. Megumi realized that she wasn't dead at all, but under some sort of fur blanket. It had to be fur because the underside felt leathery. That accounted for how heavy it felt. What she believed to be the "vestments of otherworldly beings" just happened to be a white sheet, wrapped around her and pinned up at one shoulder, leaving the other shoulder bare in the manner of ancient Grecians. 

Megumi nearly laughed at herself for overreacting. She reached up and tentatively poked her head out of her fleecy prison. Overhead, the first thing she saw was the incredible amount of detail on the high vaulted ceiling. There was no line where the walls met the ceiling; it tapered off into a circular rotunda above. Gold vines and arabesque frescoes lined a giant painting of cherubim surrounding a tree that Megumi had never seen before.

She was lying on a settee with no back, but her head was raised so she could see on all sides of her. To her left, dim rays of light were streaming in through a burgundy draped window that stretched from floor to ceiling. Whether it was early morning or late afternoon, she didn't know. A fire in a brick hearth blazed to the right of her, but it was nearly all burnt out.

_How long have I been sleeping? _

She didn't have time to contemplate this thought as her attention was drawn to the vast universe of books that lined the walls. Black books, small books, old books, books of every shape, size and color were everywhere, so much so that the color of the walls could only be seen in between the shelves. It was awe-inspiring; Megumi had never seen so many books in her _lifetime_, let alone at one time.

_Where is Sanosuke? _

Her breathing almost stopped when she realized that she wasn't the _only_ one breathing. And not only that, but the sound was coming from very close to her right ear, on the same side as the fireplace. It was to her right, so she expected to wake up and see Sanosuke's face. It all had to be a horrible, horrible dream. She couldn't have lived that night; it wasn't possible. Sanosuke was lying right beside her, just as he should be. Megumi turned her head to see an unruly mop of curly white hair.

_What? _

She sat up, making sure that she did not disturb the mysterious person. She trusted her instinct, if it had been dangerous, she would have felt it by now. Instead, what she saw stunned her beyond words.

_He's... he's just a boy! _

A pile of bandages and one pair of opened scissors lay in his lap, scattered in disarray. He was wearing a skirt of some kind, but it wasn't at all feminine. It appeared to be made of some sort of burlap, like the kind on flour bags. He was using the edge of the settee as a sort of prop against while he slept. His legs were both together and perfectly in line with the rest of his body, he faced the fire and was hunched over with his chin almost touching his chest. Megumi caught the faint sparkle of some sort of jewel on his bandana.

That wasn't the oddest thing about him, however. While her father always said that white hair meant a person of supernatural stature, but it was his skin that intrigued her. She had always been perplexed by something different, and this was _different_. His skin was a dark, deep brown color. Africa, he father said, was where you find people with black skin.

_He must be African. What is he doing here? _

Judging from his looks, she estimated his age to be roughly seventeen years of age, and well muscled for his thin frame.

_He must be a slave. _

She momentarily forgot about Sanosuke and thought for a few seconds. If she were to just get up and look for him, it would arouse suspicion. Since this boy _obviously_ wasn't her kidnapper, she reasoned, he was kidnapped along with her. Seeing absolutely no reason to do what she was going to do, she cautiously placed a hand on his shoulder. In an instant, he was on his feet, bandages and scissors tumbling onto the carpet from his lap. The whole movement took Megumi by surprise.

"Are you..." she started to speak, but stopped when she realized that the boy blinked twice at her. At first, he looked scared, and then something in his eyes softened. He curiously tilted his head to the side and blinked again. Megumi didn't know what to say to him. It seemed like he was at a loss for words as well.

_What can I say? He probably doesn't speak Japanese. _

The boy looked embarrassed. He bent over and picked up all the strewn supplies over the floor, his face to the ground with his hair covering it. He fumbled with all of them, but a bandage roll kept slipping out of his reach. Once he picked it up, it would always fall out of his grasp. Megumi made a move to help him, but this only made things worse. He timidly dropped everything in his arms and backed up against the fireplace, still watching her.

Always watching her.

She watched his line of sight. It went directly to her right arm. Now Megumi saw what the bandages and scissors were for, the boy had wrapped up her right hand and wrist. It wasn't the best job in the world, but the way he tied the knot on her wrist was well done. The handcuff was gone.

_Where is Sanosuke?! _

She imploringly reached her bandaged arm towards him and asked gently, "Are you a slave too?"

The boy stared at her for a moment longer and nodded slowly. She smiled a little, and his shoulders relaxed. He smiled back. "Please, where is Sanosuke?" The boy took his left hand and made a circle around his right wrist. He was using some sort of body language, and that must mean handcuff, she thought. "Yes, yes that's it... where is he?" Something flashed across his eyes and he shook his head at her. He knelt to his knees and started to pick up the bandages again.

"Can you speak my language? Do you..." He looked up at her, and Megumi momentarily stopped. The boy looked sad. "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

This certainly would have to rank as one of the oddest things that ever happened to her. What kind of man would take as hostage an African boy and a doctor? Was that man the same one on the street? Details blurred together in Megumi's mind; she didn't want to remember.

She decided to take the initiative and find Sanosuke herself if this boy couldn't help her. Megumi threw her legs over the other side of the couch and started to walk towards the window. There was a heavy door to the left of it. She felt remarkably calm considering the situation she was in, and she gave herself a small bit of applause for not panicking, as she would be.

There was only one thing first and foremost in her mind. Find Sanosuke.

"Don't leave me."

_What? _

Megumi turned around and looked at the young boy by the fireplace, holding an assortment of bandages in his arms. His eyes were large and expressive, and the sea green jewel on his headband added to the youthful glow on his face. "Don't leave me," he repeated.

He turned his head to the right and looked at it briefly, then met Megumi's eyes. She obeyed his silent instruction and saw what he was looking at. It was a cupboard, and her purple smock and kimono lay hanging on top. There was a puddle of water on the floor directly underneath them, and the kimono was not even done dripping.

The boy nursed her back from certain death by hypothermia. She was sure that he didn't know the word, but he understood the implications. If she was okay, then Sanosuke had to be... Something in the boy's eyes had stopped her from wanting to look for Sanosuke. It was a wild look of urgency. "Why shouldn't I go outside? I need to find someone. Do you know where Sanosuke is?"

The way Megumi reasoned, that handcuff would have been hard to get off. A night of sawing alone could take until morning. Maybe this captured slave boy had seen where they had put Sanosuke. Why had their captor insisted on separating them?

"No... outside," he answered. "Bad people out."

_Bad people? _

Megumi stared at the boy for a couple of seconds longer. As if on cue, the single giant window started to make sporadic rattling noises. It sounded like it was raining. The sky was perfectly clear though from her vantage point, not a cloud in the sky. How could it be raining? She started to walk over to get a closer look, but the boy behind her dashed to the window first. He threw open the window and peered at the ground below him. A couple of hand gestures, a few words, and an angry sigh from the boy came moments later.

He shut the window and whirled around. Megumi was caught by surprise when he was by her side in an instant and pulling on her arm. "Go. Trouble. Go!" he urged, trying to get her to respond. Feeling herself completely numb from the waist down, she did whatever was asked of her. After all, where else could she go? 

Who else could she trust?

The boy started to take her towards the fireplace. On the way past, Megumi managed to get enough hold on her surroundings to snatch up her kimono and smock. If there was trouble, she certainly didn't want to leave any trace of herself. "Wait..." he ordered. She did as she was told.

Looking around both ways, he bent down and started to dust off the edges of the woodwork around the hearth. After a couple of minutes of this seemingly senseless housecleaning, Megumi felt herself get frantic again. Before she raised her voice in protestation, he had completely and swiftly yanked out the paneling.

"You—"

The boy turned to her with a finger on his lips. "Kyk na. Look at." He pointed into the dark passageway revealed by the wood. "A hidden tunnel?" she whispered breathlessly. What's a tunnel doing here? And behind a wooden panel? She got down on her hands and knees and tried to see as far as the cobwebs and darkness would permit her. It looked like it led to nowhere. Of course, she did not wish to go in.

"Go. Sal. Gou maak."

Megumi felt herself torn. The musty and decaying smell of the corridor did so much to sway her decision. Even though it was a matter of great urgency as seen in the boy's gestures, she found herself thinking that dying by someone else's hand was more welcome than suffocating to death.

_Especially now that Sanosuke is gone... _

She closed her eyes and shivered. "No, I'm not going in. I won't."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's notes: Yeah, Yahiko's OOC. I have good reason for him to be though. I wouldn't want a kid to be in over his head like that. What better way to protect him than kneeing him in the stomach? Saitoh's just a loving, considerate bastard like that ^_^

I apologize for the lack of information on Raimi. It's just something I work up to in later chapters. By making his past a little shady and not dropped all at once, it lends an air of mystery. The more I think about Raimi, the more lovable he becomes. He is quickly becoming my favorite character in this Chronicle series...

Once again, criticism is the key to improvement. I've been watching for missing words, and the grammar is just a bad habit of laziness I develop over time. Plot? What plot? Are you sensing a plot? I certainly hope so, or else I _really_ suck... keep on writing! 


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